A Spanish travel vlogger, allegedly sexually assaulted by seven men in Jharkhand’s Dumka on March 1, has described her harrowing experience in her police complaint. She claims to have been threatened with a dagger, kicked, punched, and raped during the incident, which she says lasted for two and a half hours. An FIR has been registered based on her complaint.
The incident took place when the woman and her partner had pitched a tent in a forested hilly area around one kilometre from the main road. Her statement was recorded at 2.05 am on March 2 at the community health centre, and an FIR was registered under IPC sections 376D (gangrape) and 395 (dacoity).
The FIR states that at first, three men started quarrelling with her husband before assaulting him and tying his hands. She alleges that the other four forcefully picked her up “after showing me a dagger”. She alleges that she was thrown on the ground, kicked, punched and raped repeatedly by all seven men.
According to her statement in the FIR, “All of them seemed to be slightly drunk. This incident occurred between approximately 7:30 pm and 10 pm.”
The couple embarked on a world tour via motorbikes, entering India from Pakistan in mid-July last year. The FIR indicates that two weeks prior to the incident, they re-entered India after a short stay in Sri Lanka.
“In the course of our journey, we arrived at Kumrahat village in Dumka… Due to the lateness of the hour, we opted to set up our makeshift tent for the night along a nearby forested hill road… Around 7 pm, while inside our tent, we heard some suspicious voices. Upon exiting the tent, we observed two individuals conversing on a phone. Subsequently, around 7:30 pm, several individuals arrived on two motorcycles. They halted near the tent and greeted us with ‘Hello friends.’ We emerged from our tent, illuminating the area with our head torch, and witnessed five individuals approaching us, while two others headed towards our tent. They conversed in the local dialect, occasionally interspersing their dialogue with a few English words,” as stated in the FIR.
According to the FIR, all seven perpetrators also seized their belongings, which included a Swiss knife, a wristwatch, a platinum ring with a diamond, a silver ring, black earpods, a black purse, a credit card, approximately Rs 11,000, 300 US dollars, as well as a steel spoon and fork.
“The FIR describes one of the perpetrators as being between 28-30 years old, wearing a white scarf and white T-shirt, while the others were young adults. Following the crime, they fled towards the village. The FIR continues, stating, ‘After the incident, we retrieved our motorcycles and managed to reach the main road. At 11 pm, a night patrolling party from the Hansdiha police spotted us and came to our aid.’ They were subsequently transported to a nearby community health center for primary medical treatment, where their statements were recorded.
Meanwhile, in Dumka, the police held a press conference announcing the arrest of all the accused. The husband and wife bikers departed the state on Tuesday.”
