NEW DELHI: Indian police arrested two men on Monday over the gang rape andburning to death of a woman, the latest shocking crime against females inthe country, officials said.
Five men allegedly took it in turns to rape the woman after barging intoher home early on Saturday, before dragging her to a Hindu temple wherethey burned her to death in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“Two of the accused were arrested from an adjoining district early Mondayand we are looking for the rest,” local police chief Radhey Mohan Bhardwajtold *AFP*.
Initial investigations found the men, who are members of the same extendedfamily as the victim and from the same locality, were “annoyed” with the35-year-old for meeting a particular man, Bhardwaj said.
Police said the mother-of-two revealed the identities of the accused to herhusband over the phone after the alleged rape and before they took her tothe nearby temple and murdered her.
Police rejected media reports that the woman’s desperate emergency phonecall went unanswered, saying it was unsuccessful because of the poornetwork quality in the area.
India has a grim record of sexual violence, with nearly 40,000 rape casesreported countrywide in 2016.
Campaigners say the true figure is likely to be much higher given thesocial stigma around victims of sexual crimes.Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, reported more than 4,800 rapesin 2016.
The state has been rocked by several high profile rape cases in recentmonths, including one that allegedly involved a lawmaker from the rulingparty.
Sexual violence in India has been in the global spotlight since the 2012gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked angry protestsand stiffer penalties. – APP/AFP