MUMBAI (Reuters) - A photojournalist was gang-raped in
Mumbai, police said on Friday, evoking comparisons with a similar
assault in New Delhi in December that led to nationwide protests
and a revision of the country's rape laws.
The attack on Thursday night triggered protests and an outcry on
social media, with many users shocked that it took place in Mumbai,
widely considered to be India's safest city for women.
One man was arrested on Friday and 20 police teams were pursuing
four men who had been identified, said Mumbai Police Commissioner
Satyapal Singh.
"Mumbai police will do its best to collect all the evidence -
clinching evidence, scientific evidence - so that a fool-proof case
is made out in the court, and they get maximum punishment," Singh
said. "We will also request the government that this case be
conducted in a fast-track court."
In rowdy scenes in the Rajya Sabha, opposition lawmakers accused
the government of not doing enough to protect women, despite
tougher sex crime laws brought in this year.
The victim, who is in her early twenties, was admitted to hospital
in south Mumbai where she was in stable condition, a hospital
official told Reuters by e-mail.
The attack took place shortly before sunset in an abandoned textile
mill in Lower Parel, a gritty former industrial district that is
now one of the city's fastest-growing neighbourhoods of luxury
apartments, malls and bars.
The woman was at the mill on an assignment with a male colleague.
The pair were separated by the attackers and her colleague was tied
up with a belt while she was assaulted, Singh said.
Several dozen mainly male supporters of the right-wing Shiv Sena
political party gathered with flags and banners outside the police
station where the case was filed. A further protest was called for
later in the afternoon.
Women's safety in India has been in the spotlight this year
following the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving
bus in New Delhi in December, which led thousands of Indians to
take to the streets in protest. The woman died of her injuries two
weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
The trials of the four men and one juvenile accused of the December
attack are expected to conclude within the next three weeks. The
verdict on the juvenile suspect is set for Aug 31. Closing
arguments in the trial of the four adult suspects started on
Thursday.
Following public outcry over the Delhi attack, India introduced
tougher rape laws in March, which include the death penalty for
repeat offenders and for those whose victims were left in a
"vegetative state".
In contrast to Delhi, Mumbai has long been considered a safer place
for women to travel alone, even at night.
"(Mumbai) has this sense of security ... but these things make us
feel that maybe we are not really that safe," said A. L. Sharada,
director of Population First, a Mumbai-based NGO that works on
women's rights issues.
"Women should be able to move freely and take up work. Why should
we be worrying about something bad happening to us all the
time?"
(Reporting Aradhana Aravindan in MUMBAI and Shyamantha Asokan and
Aditya Kalra in NEW DELHI; Writing by Shyamantha Asokan; Editing by
John Chalmers)