Two days after a 20-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and publicly shamed in Shahdara, the police made two more arrests in the case on Friday.
A senior police officer said a total of 11 persons, including two juveniles, have been held so far. “Eleven persons were named in the FIR, out of whom nine (including seven women) were held on Thursday. Two others, a man and a woman, have been caught based on video footage of the incident,” the officer said, adding that more arrests are likely.
The victim, the police said, is currently in a women’s shelter and will be asked of her choice of stay in a day or two.
The woman, who is married and has a two-year-old son, was abducted, sexually assaulted, tonsured and paraded with blackened face and a garland of shoes around her neck in a colony in Shahdara. Her attackers were all members of a family which blamed her for the death of their minor son.
The police said the teenaged son of one of the accused was in a relationship with the woman. He killed himself in November last year following a quarrel between his family and the parents of the woman.
Viral videos
On Wednesday, a crowd could be seen following the victim and her attackers in viral videos of the incident. However, most residents of the colony told The Hindu that they didn’t see anything. A neighbour, requesting anonymity, said everyone in the locality was scared of the accused family because of their aggressive behaviour. He alleged that they sell illicit liquor for a living.
The incident was condemned by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir and DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal who demanded strong action against the accused.
