80-Year-Old Grandmother Sexually Assaulted in India... Public Outcry Demands "Death Penalty"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] A shocking incident occurred in India where an elderly woman in her 80s was sexually assaulted.

According to local media such as the Hindustan Times on the 10th, New Delhi police arrested a man in his 30s on charges of sexually assaulting an elderly woman in her 80s.

The man is reported to have lured an 86-year-old grandmother who was waiting for a milk delivery man in the southwest Chihola area of New Delhi on the afternoon of the 7th, and sexually assaulted her at a remote farm. It was revealed that the man also brutally beat the grandmother who was crying and pleading.

As a result, Indian society is boiling with shock and anger.

A netizen in India wrote on Twitter, "It is so sad and disgusting," adding, "A few years in prison is not enough; such an animal should be sentenced to death."

Other netizens also posted that the man deserves the harshest punishment.

Earlier this month in India, a shocking case occurred where a COVID-19 patient traveling in an ambulance was sexually assaulted by the driver.

Since the 2012 'New Delhi female student bus gang rape and murder case,' voices calling for the eradication of sexual violence have grown louder and punishments have been strengthened, but related crimes have not decreased.

In December last year, a sexual assault victim who was going to court to testify was set on fire by suspects, suffered severe injuries, and eventually died. Since then, incidents of women being gang-raped and set on fire to death have occurred repeatedly across the country.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of India, there were 33,977 reported cases of rape to the police in 2018. This means a rape case occurred every 15 minutes. It is estimated that there are even more unreported cases.

Experts point out that the widespread prevalence of sexual crimes in India and the extreme brutality of some methods, which are hard to find parallels for in other countries, are due to the distorted perception of women that is still widely spread.

They also criticized the view that sexual crimes appear frequent simply because India has a large population as incorrect.

In fact, one of the death row inmates from the New Delhi bus case revealed in a documentary a distorted view of women, saying, "A proper woman does not go out at night and dresses modestly," and "If a woman who does not behave properly is sexually assaulted, the responsibility lies with the woman, not the man."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.