Agra
A 20-year-old engineering student in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, “publicly stripped” to pressure authorities into arresting the man who allegedly raped her. After a 17-day wait, the accused, a 22-year-old MTech student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Jammu, was finally arrested on Tuesday. According to a report by The Indian Express, the student’s public protest was driven by “frustration,” following which she was taken to a mental hospital and observed for three days.
Police stated that the accused, originally from the Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, had completed his BTech at a university before joining IIT Jammu.
The alleged incident occurred on August 10, when the woman, from Lucknow, claimed she was raped by the accused in a moving car. She filed a complaint with the local police on August 11, leading to an FIR. However, the police reportedly did not act on the arrest, citing that the accused was in Jammu at the time of the alleged crime.
Over the next several days, the woman repeatedly visited police stations and met with senior officers. Frustrated by the lack of response, she chose to publicly undress on Sunday to draw attention to her case.
A social worker who witnessed the woman’s protest said, “She undressed on the road in the afternoon and shouted anti-police slogans. Two women quickly covered her and took her to a nearby clinic. We thought she might be mentally distressed and informed the police, who then took her to a mental hospital.”
The hospital director stated, “She was admitted on Sunday evening and observed for three days. We monitored her daily activities closely and found nothing unusual. On Tuesday, she was released to her mother, who had been brought from Lucknow.”
