A woman died in hospital in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Tuesday, weeks after authorities said she was raped by a group of men, triggering protests and opposition criticism over what it said was a failure to protect women.
Her case was the latest in a string of gruesome crimes against women in India that have given it the dismal reputation of being one of the worst places in the world to be female.
One woman reported a rape every 15 minutes on average in India in 2018, according to the latest government data released in January.
“There is next to no protection for women. Criminals are openly committing crimes,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the opposition Congress party, said on Twitter.
The 19-year-old victim, belonging to the Dalit community – formerly known as “untouchables” – was attacked and raped on September 14 at a field near her home in Hathras district, 100km (62-mile) from New Delhi, authorities said.
Police have arrested four men in connection with the crime.
On Monday, the woman was brought from a hospital in Uttar Pradesh state to New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she died while undergoing treatment, authorities said.
About 300 protesters from the Bhim Army, a party championing the rights of Dalits, entered the hospital building and shouted slogans near the mortuary where the woman’s body was kept.❐
Al Jazeera
Yet another gang-rape of a Dalit Girl in UP's Hathras.
Brutally raped, spinal cord broken, she is fighting for her life in AIIMS
How many rapes will it take for @myogiadityanath to wake up? Does he even care?@Tejasvi_Surya Is what women daily face in UP any less than Terror?
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) September 28, 2020
