A 14-year-old cancer patient was raped twice on Saturday night within a period of few hours in Lucknow, northern India, first by two youths and then by a passerby from whom she sought help.
The girl was reported to have told police in her statement that she left home around 9pm and met an acquaintance who took her to a secluded area, where he and his friend raped her.
The Times of India also reported that she then sought help from a commuter who sought to help her and got assaulted by him too.
The victim only managed to reach her home at around 3am on Sunday, after which her father, who had been desperately looking for his daughter, filed a police complaint.
Police have arrested the passerby, identified as Virendra Yadav of Banthara, and are on the lookout for the other two accused identified as Shubham and Sumit, who live in the same locality as the girl.
Sexual violence in India triggered unprecedented outrage in 2012, when a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was violently raped by six men on a moving bus in Delhi. Jyoti Singh later died in the hospital. The brutal assault, during which the woman was penetrated with an iron rod, caused mass street protests over violence against women, prompting the Indian government to toughen jail terms for rapists. Assailants found guilty now receive a minimum of 20 years in prison, instead of the previous 10 years. The maximum sentence is life behind bars.
Starting from December, Delhi police are set to deploy a female motorbike squad in the streets of the Indian capital to safeguard women in a city considered to be one of the worst places in the world for sexual violence and gang rape.
The officers will reportedly be equipped with body cameras, helmet bullhorns, pepper spray, and taser guns.
