Representative image of a protest against rape.
Credit: Reuters Photo
A 28-year-old female travel vlogger from Spain allegedly fell victim to a brutal gangrape by seven local youth in Dumka, Jharkhand. The incident occurred on Friday night, when the vlogger and her male partner were resting in a makeshift tent during a stopover on their biking expedition with her partner. The woman
The woman, renowned for her travel escapades with nearly 200,000 Instagram followers, shared the traumatic experience in a video message delivered in Spanish from the hospital where they sought refuge.
Describing the harrowing event, she detailed the attackers' brutality, recounting how they were accosted, assaulted, and threatened with a knife, with the assailants explicitly expressing intentions to kill them.
“We are in the hospital, and something happened to us that we wouldn’t wish on anyone. Seven men raped me, and they have beaten us and robbed us, although not many things (were taken) because what they wanted was to rape me. We are in the hospital with the police, it happened tonight in India,” she said in a video message in Spanish.
Her partner also shared the ordeal on social media, stating, "My oral cavity is severely damaged, yet my partner has fared worse than me. They assaulted me repeatedly with a helmet and struck me on the head with a stone. Thankfully, her protective jacket offered some resistance against the blows."
The Superintendent of Police, Pitamber Singh Kherwar, received the distressing call at 1:30 am and headed to the scene for verification.
“The woman and the man stopped a patrol van around midnight. Initially, the patrolling party did not understand much of the incident because the woman was speaking partly in English and partly in Spanish. They were taken to a nearby health centre,” Dumka Superintendent of Police Pitamber Singh Kherwar said.
Upon reaching the health center, medical professionals informed the police about the sexual assault.
Dumka Civil Surgeon Baccha Prasad Singh later disclosed that the victims, aged 28 and 64 (the latter being the woman's husband), were receiving treatment at Phulo Jhano Medical College and Hospital in Dumka. They had covered a 60-kilometer journey from Saraiyahat Community Health Centre on motorcycles under police escort.
Fortunately, both victims are reported to be out of immediate danger, with the man sustaining minor injuries. A medical board, led by Dr. Anupuran Purti, the superintendent of the medical college, is set to conduct a comprehensive examination of the rape survivor. The board, comprising gynaecologists, a radiologist, an orthopedic specialist, and a dentist, will contribute to the investigation and medical assessment of the traumatic incident.
The couple entered India via Pakistan in July last year. “Hello India, after almost 5 years travelling the world and more than 150,000 km, the time has come to meet," she had posted last year.