Friend of Delhi victim:Police,public apathy led to her death

New Delhi, Jan 5: The nightmare is far from over for the 28-year-old friend of brutal Delhi gangrape victim. He was silent for all these days. Finally, he has spoken out. In a television interview on Friday, Jan 4, the friend of the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim criticised police and public apathy which led to the death of the girl.

The 23-year-old paramedical student was gangraped and brutally assaulted by a group of six men when the two boarded a bus around 9 pm in south Delhi's Munirka area after watching a movie in a cinema hall on Dec 16.

"I wish I could have saved her," the male friend of the victim, who died in a Singapore hospital on Dec 29 told Zee TV.

Below in an excerpt from the TV interview

"Many things have come out in the media but people have been interpreting it as per their convenience. I want to tell them what we faced that night. I want to tell what I faced, what my friend faced," he added.

He said that both he and his friend became victims of the trap laid by the six culprits.

"The occupants of the bus, which had tinted windows and curtains, had laid a trap for us. They were probably involved in crimes before also. They beat us up, hit us with an iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and threw us off the bus on a deserted stretch."

"The bus occupants had everything planned. Apart from the driver and the helper, others behaved like they were passengers. We even paid Rs 20 as fare. They then started teasing my friend and it led to a brawl. I beat three of them up but then the rest of them brought an iron rod and hit me. Before I fell unconscious, they took my friend away."

"From where we boarded the bus, they moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus. We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me. She tried to dial the police control room number 100 but the accused snatched her mobile away," he said.

"Before throwing us off the bus, they snatched our mobiles and tore off our clothes in order to destroy any evidence of the crime," he added.

"After throwing us off the bus, they tried to mow us down but I saved my friend by pulling her away in the nick of time. We were without clothes. We tried to stop passersby. Several auto rickshaws, cars and bikes slowed down but none stopped for about 25 minutes. Then, someone on patrolling, stopped and called the police," he told Zee News.

The victim's friend rued the fact that three PCR vans arrived at the scene after about 45 minutes but wasted time in deciding under which police station's jurisdiction the case fell.

He said nobody, including the police, gave them clothes or called an ambulance. "They were just watching us," he said, adding that after repeated requests, someone gave him a part of a bed sheet to cover his friend.

OneIndia News