Delhi police arrest two in tourist gang-rape case

NEW DELHI // Two suspects were arrested in connection with the alleged gang rape of a Danish tourist near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she stopped to ask for directions, police said yesterday.

The 51-year-old woman was also robbed and beaten in the attack, which happened on Tuesday near Connaught Place, police said.

“Two have been arrested in connection with rape case with Danish national,” the police said, adding that both men were “vagabonds” at New Delhi railway station.

The woman had lost her way and was trying to get back to her hotel.

She approached a group of men for directions, but they lured her to a secluded area where they allegedly raped her at knifepoint.

The woman managed to reach her hotel on Tuesday evening and the owner called police.

The woman was crying and “not in good shape” when she returned to the hotel, Amit Bahl, the owner of the Amax Hotel, said. “I am really ashamed that this happened.”

The problem of sexual violence in India has gained widespread attention since the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in December 2012. Public fury over the case led to tougher laws that doubled jail terms for rape to 20 years and criminalised voyeurism and stalking.

Ranjana Kumari, the director of India’s Centre for Social Research, said India’s conservative, patriarchal traditions lead men to use rape as a tool to instil fear in women.

“This mindset is not changing,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

Cultural stigmas, police apathy and judicial incompetence have long made it difficult for women to even report rapes.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press