THREE MEN have been arrested on suspicion of murdering the mother of a deaf-mute girl who was gang-raped by two boys.
The 50-year-old mother, who had accused the sons of two of the suspected men of raping her daughter, had been working in a field in Jharkhand, India when she was brutally hacked to death.
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It is thought that the woman was murdered in an act of revenge after she reported the rape to the police.
The three men suspected of her murder are the fathers of the two fourteen-year-old boys who raped her daughter, and a relative of theirs.
The unnamed relative is thought to have had a long-standing dispute with the mother over land.
According to a police report: “The motive appears to be revenge for the police action initiated against the sons and the land dispute with the victim.”
The police added that they had recovered a weapon found at the scene of the crime.
The two fourteen-year-old boys accused of rape are thought to have broken into the 50-year-old woman’s house while she was asleep with her teenage daughter on March 13 – while her eldest daughter attended a wedding.
Police reported that one of the boys then distracted the mother by telling her she needed to check on her eldest daughter, who was “up to something indecent” at the wedding.
The investigating officer believe that the other boy then kidnapped the mother’s deaf and mute teenage daughter.
The pair then dragged her from her home, taking her to a school building where they proceeded to rape her.
Neither the daughter nor the mother have been named.
An investigation into the murder of the victim’s mother is currently ongoing.
The two fourteen-year-old boys are being held in an observation home, according to the Times of India.
India has been shaken by a series of sexual assaults in recent years, including the gang rape and murder of a student on a moving New Delhi bus in 2012.
That attack galvanised a country where widespread violence against women had long been quietly accepted.
While the government has passed a series of laws increasing punishment for rape of an adult to 20 years in prison, reports of sexual assaults are increasingly common.
Just a few days before the deaf-mute teenager was allegedly raped, a Spanish tourist visiting India with her husband was reported to have been gang-raped by a group of seven men.
The Spanish couple, with dual Brazilian nationality, had been travelling through South Asia on a motorcycle before the attack in Jharkhand.
The 31-year-old victim said: “There were seven men and they raped me.
“They robbed thrashed us and robbed us, but their main aim was to rape me.”
Her husband added: “They brutally thrashed us. Also, they put a knife around my neck and told me that they would kill me.”
The victim also told cops the gang of men raped her in horrifying shift patterns over the course of two harrowing hours.
Police were able to quickly arrest three of the men, and brought them before the Dumka District Court in Jharkand on March 5.
Police in Dumka say they are continuing to look for the others on the run.
It is understood that the couple entered India through West Bengal after travelling through Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The couple had plans to visit Bihar before continuing to Nepal.
How victims can get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect you are about to be attacked, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons.
- Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
