Five Men Arrested for Gang Rape and Abduction of Japanese Tourist
A 23-year-old Japanese tourist was allegedly abducted and gang raped by a group of men whilst on holiday in India. The student was staying in eastern Indian city of Kolkata when she befriended three local men who spoke Japanese.
They took her to seaside resort of Digha in the state of West Bengal after which the student claimed they robbed her and took her to Bodh Gaya, a major Buddhist pilgrimage and tourist centre in the eastern state of Bihar. Two more men joined them and according to the student’s claims they raped her, she says they held her for three weeks.
An investigating police officer said, “When her health condition deteriorated due to repeated rape and poor living conditions, she was brought to Gaya (district headquarters) for medical treatment on December 20.”
However she managed to escape to Varanasi where she met some Japanese tourists who helped her contact the Japanese consulate in Kolkata.
Senior police official in Kolkata Pallav Kanti Ghosh said, “We have arrested three people from Kolkata and two from Gaya in Bihar in connection with the incident.” He added that two of the men were charged with gang rape.
The incident has again brought attention to the safety of women in India as there have been previous cases of foreigners being victims of sex crimes. Last January a 51-year-old Danish tourist was robbed at knife point and raped in Delhi. In 2013 a Swiss cyclist on holiday in Madhya Pradesh was robbed and gang raped by five men, all of whom were later sentenced to life terms.
