Thirteen years after the gang rape of an Indian woman on a bus in the capital Delhi made global headlines, a new case that comes close in brutality inflicted on a woman has been reported from the northern state of Bihar.
Campaigners say her story is also one of apathy from the police and medical authorities that women who face sexual assault, especially in small towns and villages, routinely encounter in India.
Indian law prohibits naming victims of sexual assault so we are going to call the survivor Soma (not her real name).
The 28-year-old mother of four young children told BBC Hindi that she was attacked in her own home and gang-raped by a group of men who allegedly inserted objects into her vagina.
The incident took place on the night of 11 June in a village in Begusarai – a district that is officially recognised as one of India’s most socially and economically backward.
The case gained national attention after hospital officials confirmed she was assaulted with objects, which doctors removed. She also brought a bullet casing, which she said was one of the items used.
Giving details of the horrific assault, Soma said she was in the toilet outside her one-room home at night when five men barged in. The toilet does not have a door, only a curtain hangs over it to provide some privacy.
“They stripped me, gagged me, and tied my hands. When I tried to fight back, they slashed my chest with a blade and raped me,” she added.
Her husband, she said, initially dismissed her groans as noises made by a stray cat, but then he grew suspicious and tried to check.
“But the house was locked from the outside. He called a neighbour who came and unlocked the door and everyone saw my condition and began to cry.”
“There are three named and two unidentified accused in this case. We have arrested two of them. A Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has been constituted for the case, is conducting raids to arrest the others and the investigation is ongoing,” he said.
Police say some of the accused have a previous history of crimes and have invoked sections dealing with gang rape against them.
On the night of her horrific assault, Soma said she received little help from the police or medical authorities.
The husband, an e-rickshaw driver, reportedly took his unconscious wife to a police station about 3 km from their home. He says the police refused to file a complaint and sent them away, advising him instead to take her to a doctor.
The police station head Rajiv Kumar has since been suspended for “negligence, apathy, and insensitivity”, Begusarai police said. They said an FIR (First Information Report) in the case was registered at the local police station on 13 June.
Since the assault, Soma and her husband say she has also struggled to get proper medical attention.
On the night of the attack, she was reportedly turned away by a nearby private clinic, which said it did not handle emergencies and had no doctor on duty. She was then taken to a government community health centre, where she received first aid before being referred to a district hospital.
