A 25-year-old doctor from Nagaland was on Sunday stalked for nearly 1.5 km, molested and allegedly shouted at with racial slurs in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, The Times of India reported.
The complainant, who is in her third year of obstetrics and gynaecology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Gorakhpur, was returning to the campus from a mall at around 8 pm when she was followed by three men who later assaulted her.
Two of the accused in the case have been arrested, The Indian Express quoted Gorakhpur Superintendent of Police Abhinav Tyagi as saying.
“Raids are underway to trace the third accused,” Tyagi was quoted as saying.
According to the complainant, the men began following her on a motorcycle and shouted racial slurs at her while she was returning to the institution, located around 1.5 km away.
She alleged that one of them later removed his shirt while another touched her inappropriately before she raised an alarm, forcing them to flee, PTI reported.
She said that she informed her colleagues about the incident, who then informed the authorities.
The police said they were informed about the matter on Monday, after which a case was registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty, engaging in obscene acts, criminal intimidation and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, PTI reported.
The two arrested persons have been identified as 22-year-old Suraj Gupta and 21-year-old Amrit Vishwakarma. They were traced based on surveillance footage from the area, The Indian Express reported.
They are residents of the neighbouring Deoria district, where they run shops.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma described the incident as “deeply shameful”.
“Racial discrimination and sexual harassment of women from the North East should not just be a headline, sensationalised, forgotten and revived every time a fresh incident appears,” he said on social media.
The incident came days after three women from Arunachal Pradesh faced racial abuse in Delhi.
The Delhi Police on Sunday said that a couple was booked for allegedly shouting racial slurs and intimidating three women who lived in the same building as them.
The altercation on Friday erupted when debris allegedly fell into the home of the accused persons when the women were getting an air conditioner installed. The women claimed that that they were told they worked at “massage parlours” and that they should sell momos.
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