A Spanish woman, who was gang-raped in Jharkhand's Dumka district last week, expressed gratitude towards the people of India as she prepared to depart for Nepal on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old, speaking to reporters before departing with her husband on their motorcycles, stated she has no grievances against the people. “People of India are nice. I don’t blame the people, but I blame the criminals. People of India have treated me very well, and were very kind to me,” she said.
The incident occurred at Kurumahat in Hansdiha police station area, approximately 300 km from the state capital Ranchi, when the woman was spending the night in a tent with her husband, as reported by news agency PTI citing Police.
“We have been in India for the last six months and travelled around 20,000 km. We did not have any problems anywhere. This has happened for the first time,” she said. “I have good memories from India,” she added.
Background:
On Friday, a tourist with Spanish nationality in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand was gang-raped. The 28-year-old woman and her husband, who were on a motorbike tour, had stopped for the night in Dumka district when the alleged attack took place.
The couple had travelled to several parts of Asia on their motorbikes before arriving in India a few months ago.
Over the weekend, the woman posted a video on their Instagram page and said in Spanish, with captions in English: “Something happened to us that we wouldn’t wish on anyone.” Her husband then said: “We were assaulted in the tent. We were beaten. They put a knife to our necks and she was raped by seven guys.”
The video has since been removed from their page.
In response, Jharkhand Police has made eight arrests in the case so far. Additionally, the police has handed over a compensation of Rs 10 lakhs to the husband of the Spanish woman.
In India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, police recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022, marking a 20% increase from the previous year.
(With inputs from news agencies)
