West Bengal: Adivasi Woman Dragged To Paddy Fields And Gangraped; One Arrested

An Adivasi woman was allegedly gangraped by three men in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on Tuesday. She was reportedly dragged to a paddy field nearby and raped when she went out to relieve herself.

What you should know:

• The Adivasi woman left home to relieve herself on Tuesday, 10:30 pm in Sakra village in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district.
• Four accused, including a woman, held a sharp weapon to her neck and dragged her to a paddy field.
• The three men took turns to rape the survivor, while the other woman helped them.
• The survivor managed to flee and hid elsewhere in the paddy field; when the four accused left, she returned home and narrated the incident to her family
• Police arrested one of the three accused men, while the search for others is on.

The incident reportedly took place on Tuesday night, around 10:30 pm when the survivor went out of her home to relieve herself.

Also Read: A Month After The Gangrape Case, 4-Year-Old Girl Raped In Hathras By Relative: Report

According to the survivor, a woman was with the three accused and helped them when the incident happened. They threatened to harm her as they held a sharp weapon at her neck. In the dark of the night, the accused dragged her to a nearby paddy field and took turns to allegedly rape her. The survivor alleged that the woman accomplice helped them for committing the crime, said Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Dhruba Das. The incident occurred at Sakra village under Nadanghat police station area.

Police arrested one of the accused

The police have arrested one of the three accused. The arrested said in a statement that all the four of them had their faces covered with a "gamcha", which is a kind of traditional Indian towel. The nabbed man is himself an Adivasi.

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The survivor managed to flee the site at one moment and hid at a spot in the paddy field. She returned home after the four accused left the area and recounted her ordeal to her family on returning. She was admitted to the Kalna Superspeciality Hospital on Wednesday morning, Additional Superintendent Das said. He added that the police is searching for the other accused.

The brutal gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras has sparked nationwide outrage and demand for justice and raised several concerns about the safety of women in India.

As per the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India recorded 88 rape cases every day in 2019. A total of 32,033 rape cases were reported during the year and 11 per cent were from the Dalit community, as per NCRB’s annual report titled "Crimes in India -2019".

Shikha Chandra is an intern with SheThePeople.TV