Girl shot dead after resisting sexual attack in India
NEW DELHI: Indian police said on Tuesday said they have arrested two men for shooting dead a 14-year-old girl who resisted their advances, in the latest case of sexual violence.
The two men, riding on motorbikes, had been sexually harassing the girl and her elder sister verbally as they walked home from work as domestic servants in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday, police said.
“The girls asked the men to stop harassing them but they refused, which led to one of them to shoot the girl,” Rahul Mithas, a senior police officer in Sitapur district where the incident occurred, said. The men fled but were arrested after the elder sister gave officers a description of them, he said.
According to local media, the sisters had complained to police about being regularly stalked by the men in the lead-up to Monday’s shooting, but did not receive help.
Women’s rights activists accuse police of often overlooking complaints of stalking, which they say only emboldens the perpetrators.
The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of sexual violence against women.
It led to reforms including the speeding up of trials, heavier penalties for offenders and more resources for police. But high numbers of assaults persist.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2016