Twenty-four hours after a 51-year-old Danish woman was gang-raped by eight people in a park along State Entry Road near Connaught Place on Tuesday, the area still looks un-patrolled, poorly lit and seemingly unsafe.
Locals in the area claimed that there is very little police presence in the area. After the incident came to light, a team of The Hindu visited the spot and found the place almost deserted.
After the December 16 gang-rape, the Delhi Government had promised proper street lighting at all deserted and poorly lit areas.
According to the police, the Danish tourist had lost her way to her hotel in Paharganj. “When she asked for directions, a group of men near Connaught Place promised to take her to the hotel but instead took her to an isolated park at the back side of the railway station where she was robbed and raped,” a senior police officer said.
“The accused men robbed the victim of her i-pad, 750 euros and her bag. One of them had a knife with which they threatened her and took turns in raping her. The woman was then confined for around three hours by these men. She reached her hotel at 8 p.m. and narrated the incident to the hotel manager, who informed the police at 9-30 p.m,” the officer said.
A team comprising senior police officers reached the spot and met the victim at her hotel to record her statement. A case was registered under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 376D, 394, 397 and 506 read with 34 at the Paharganj police station against the accused.
The police arrested two persons, Mahender and Mohammad Tahir, late on Wednesday evening and recovered an i-pad, ear plug, mobile phone, a spectacle case and Rs. 800 in cash.
The police said the victim was so terrified that she refused to speak to the policemen and undergo a medical test. It was only after the hotel staff pursued her she spoke to the officials.
She flew back to Denmark on Wednesday morning and assured the officials that she would return to India if needed for investigations.
The Delhi Police got in touch with embassy officials and requested the authorities in Denmark to conduct a medical test on her, a senior police official said.
The victim came to India alone on January 1 on a tourist visa. After visiting Agra, she returned to the Capital on January 13 and checked into a room for two nights at A-Mex hotel in Paharganj. She was scheduled to return on Wednesday morning.
German woman alleges rape
Staff Reporter writes from Chennai:
A man was arrested in Chennai on Tuesday on the charge of raping a German woman in a Chennai-bound train near Kozhikode on Friday. Police said the woman —a social worker in Udupi — boarded the West Coast Express from Mangalore on a Reservation against Cancellation (RAC) ticket, sharing a berth with Chandan Kumar (32). He allegedly raped her on the night of January 10 when the train was near Kozhikode.