Indian teen 'held captive, raped then shot twice'

Indian demonstrators shout slogans during a rally in New Delhi on Dec 20, 2015, held to protest the release of a juvenile rapist. PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI • An Indian teenager held captive for two weeks by a gang of men said in an interview broadcast yesterday that she was repeatedly raped before being shot twice and dumped in a well on the outskirts of New Delhi.

The victim, reportedly aged 14, was allegedly abducted on Nov 22 last year while walking to a market in western Delhi, in the latest case of sexual violence in the Indian capital.

Speaking of her ordeal to the NDTV news network, the teenager said she was held in a "dark room" where three attackers took turns to rape her over a two- week period.

"After a fortnight of repeated abuse, one night they said they will let me go. They put me in the car and drove to a store to buy alcohol and then parked the car near a well," the girl said in the interview.

"They told me they will let me go but as I took a few steps back, they fired two shots. The first bullet hit my bone. I didn't feel a thing; my body just went numb. But after the second one, I fainted."

She woke up shivering and wet inside the well where she said she had been left to die.

"When I regained consciousness... I could see a bullet in my chest, so I just yanked it out," she said, showing a wound on her chest.

Nearby villagers pulled her out on Dec 6 after hearing her screams. She was then rushed to hospital.

Several men have been arrested over the attack, according to local media reports.

"I want the rapists to be hanged. No one should go through what I did," she said.

The fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012 shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of violence against women.

It also led to a major reform of India's rape laws, including speeding up trials and increasing penalties for offenders, but high numbers of assaults persist.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 11, 2016, with the headline Indian teen 'held captive, raped then shot twice'. Subscribe