Minor Rape Victim Beaten, Tied Up With Accused And Paraded Through Village

In a horrific incident, a 16-year-old rape victim in India was brutally beaten and tied up with her rapist before being paraded through the village.

The incident happened Sunday morning in a tribal village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, media outlet NDTV reported. A disturbing video of the incident, showing the girl and the accused being beaten up and paraded as the mob chanted "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" (Long Live Mother India), has gone viral.

The mob reportedly comprised the victim's brothers and other family members. They forced the girl to walk along with the accused in a bid to shame her, the news outlet reported.

The police have arrested six people, including the alleged rapist, in connection with the incident.

The accused, who is reportedly married and has two children, claimed he was 17, and the police are trying to ascertain his age, Hindustan Times reported.

“All the five accused have been identified as relatives of the 16-year-old rape victim. The accused and victim used to work together as laborers in Gujarat. They returned to the village a few days ago. The family members on Saturday came to know that the girl was raped by the accused,” said senior police official Vijay Bhagwani said.

On hearing about the rape, the girl's relatives beat up the victim and the accused the whole night and paraded them in public, the police official said, while adding the authorities were not informed at any point.

The police are in the process of identifying more villagers involved in the incident from the video clip.

While one case has been filed for rape against the main accused, the family members of the girl, including her brothers, cousins and uncle, have been arrested for parading and beating her up.

The victim was rescued by the police after the video went viral. She was later moved to One Stop Centre, a government-run shelter home for women affected by violence.

In another recent shocking incident reported in the country, a hospital worker was accused of repeatedly raping a female patient who was on oxygen support and whose hands were tied to a bed in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital. The alleged abuse came to light after the victim wrote about the sexual assault on a piece of paper when her husband came to see her.

According to India's National Crime Records Bureau, the country recorded 88 rape cases every day in 2019. The data also showed that a woman or girl's rape vulnerability has increased up to 44% in the last decade, India Today reported.