Another rape reported amid protests over brutal assaults

MUMBAI - Days after the arrest of a lawmaker from India's ruling party in connection with the rape of a teenager, another case of the brutal rape and murder of a girl was reported on Sunday in the western state of Gujarat.

News of the incident followed days of protests by activists, who have accused authorities of failing to investigate attacks on women.

The protests have been driven in part by the Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker's arrest last week for an alleged assault in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which the ruling BJP governs.

Sunday's reports concerned an incident that took place on April 5 in Surat, the city's police commissioner, Satish Sharma, said.

He added that the victim - who was 11, according to the post-mortem - has not yet been identified and that police from Gujarat's neighboring states have been asked to help trace her family.

"We have put our best teams in place with all senior police officials. To nab the criminals we first need to identify the body," Sharma said.

A separate case of gang rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in India-controlled Kashmir has also caused national anger as details emerged of how the girl was kidnapped, drugged and held in captivity as eight men assaulted her.

The United Nations is among the international bodies that condemned the brutal assaults.

"We are deeply concerned about the prevalence of gender-based violence, including sexual violence against women and girls, which we are witnessing in India," Yuri Afanasiev, the UN resident coordinator in India, said in a statement last week.

India registered about 40,000 rape cases in 2016, up from 25,000 in 2012, government data show. Activists say thousands more go unreported.

Reuters

(China Daily 04/16/2018 page11)