On a dimly lit street on the outskirts of India’s capital of New Delhi, a surveillance camera captured the final, horrifying, moments of a 16-year-old girl.
According to MSN, A man, dressed in a blue T-shirt, shoved her against a wall before stabbing her repeatedly until she fell to the ground, lifeless. But even then, he didn’t stop his attack.
He kicked her battered body several times, stabbed her again, and then picked up what appeared to be a large slab. He held the object over her with both hands and then let it crash down on top of her, forming clouds of dust. He walked away and then came back and did it again.
Several people walked by during the attack, which was over in less than two minutes. But only one person even tried to intervene before running away. Most moved past the violent assault, another person stopped and watched. The Washington Post is not linking to the footage because of its graphic nature.
The public murder, which took place just before 9 p.m. local time Sunday, is the latest example of the gruesome violence against women that continues to plague the country, raising questions about how India is tackling this persistent issue.
Women in India have made rapid strides in all spheres — from boardrooms to politics — but conservative attitudes have changed more slowly, hampering that progress.
Janak Raj, the victim’s father, described in an emotional interview with CNN the terrible condition of his daughter’s battered body and how help arrived much too late. “She lay there lifeless. There was no point in taking her to hospital.”
The teenage victim’s name has not officially been released, but police say she was in a relationship with the attacker and was trying to end it. In India, violence and rape of women is predominantly carried out by people known to them rather than strangers, which makes it harder for crimes to be reported and more complicated to prosecute.
Dependra Pathak, Delhi’s special commissioner of police for law and order, said Monday that officials were investigating the evidence and would work to ensure the assailant gets the “strictest punishment.” Officials said they had arrested a 20-year-old male suspect named Sahil in connection with the killing.
When asked about the witnesses who failed to help the teenager as she was being viciously attacked, Pathak said their actions were “the height of insensitivity,” and called on people to intervene if they see a crime unfolding.
“It angers me to know that no one helped my daughter,” her father said. “I don’t feel alive today.” Kalpana Sharma, an Indian author and journalist focused on issues of gender, said displays of public violence like the murder over the weekend, often stem from the very common brutality in the home.
“The hidden violence, which is away from public view is proportionally so much higher and yet it is at the root of these incidents of public violence,” she said in an interview. “If a woman’s status within a house is such that she can be beaten, bought for dowry or raped, what takes place in a public space is just an extension of this problem.”
