In one of the most bizarre incidents, police in India have arrested four men who allegedly gang-raped, killed, cooked and ate a monitor lizard in one of the country’s most protected forest reserves.
The incident took place on March 29 at the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, according to Vice.
The forest’s camera traps, meant for tracking tigers, caught the accused men trespassing the reserve’s Chandoli National Park. Forest officials arrested the men between April 1 and 5, and found photos and videos on their phones of them gang-raping a monitor lizard, and then killing and eating it.
“I have never seen a crime like this before,” division forest officer Vishal Mali said. “The men are in their 20s and 30s, and they appear to have done it for fun. There was no religious or black magic agenda.”
The men were identified as Sandeep Pawar, Mangesh Kamtekar, Akshay Kamtekar and Ramesh Ghag, all locals. They are charged under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. A local court granted them bail last week.
The report stated that India’s monitor lizards are endangered, and are a protected species by law. Violators may be punished with a seven-year jail term. A report by wildlife advocacy groups recorded 82 cases of sexual abuse against animals in India between 2010 and 2020. This was out of a total of 500,000 cases of animal-related crimes that include torture and killings.
Most recent cases of sexual abuse against animals include a man raping and killing a pregnant goat in southern India, and a 60-year-old man raping a female stray dog last year.
While the suspects are out on bail, Mali said the photos and videos of the incident have been sent to a forensic lab to build evidence for the case. Forest officials are also seeking legal advice on charging the accused under a law that criminalises unnatural sex between humans and animals.
“Not only is this cruel, but there is a risk of zoonotic diseases from this kind of case. There are concerns of men carrying STDs and other infections from their act,” Mali said.
Mali said that manually surveilling over 1,000 square kilometres of reserve area is challenging for forest guards, but there are plans of deploying a new special protection force. “We will get a team of 100 people who will guard the premises more efficiently,” he said.
India is considered one of the world's most dangerous countries for women due to the high risk of sexual violence, according to multiple international surveys, where even high-level foreign dignitaries are not safe.
In a new low even for India, a woman diplomat posted at the British Deputy High Commission in India's Chandigarh was sexually harassed by a motorcyclist while she was on her way to play tennis on Wednesday.
According to Hindustan Times, the 60-year-old diplomat, who assumed office in February this year, in her complaint with local police, said that the incident took place when she left her residence around 6:30am to walk towards the tennis court.
The envoy said that a motorcyclist coming from behind touched her inappropriately and tried to make indecent gestures
“I was walking past the residential houses when a motorcycle came up behind me. The rider hit me hard with his hand or something on my back. I shouted at him and ran after him but he sped away,” she told police.
On reaching the tennis court, the 60-year-old said she informed her coach about the incident.
Police said that they have registered a case and a search for the accused is underway.
India’s record on women’s safety is never too far from global attention. Over the years, India has developed a reputation of being an unsafe country for women.
A survey published by Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India “the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour”.
The survey asked respondents which five of the 193 United Nations member states they thought were most dangerous for women and which country was worst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditional practices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and human trafficking
Respondents also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide. India's Ministry of Women and Child Development declined to comment on the survey results.
There were more than 32,000 rapes recorded in India in 2019 according to government data – almost four an hour – though experts say the actual figures are likely significantly higher due to the stigma attached to sexual offences.
There were more than 100,000 kidnappings of women over the same period, data show, a third of them with the aim of forcing them into marriage.
India's rape laws were overhauled after a 2012 gang rape in New Delhi but the number of offences remains high, with more than 28,000 rapes reported in 2020.
Police have long been accused of not doing enough to prevent violent crimes and failing to bring sexual assault cases to court.
In a bizarre and shocking incident, a cow was sexually assaulted in an Indian village, according to India Today.
The cow was raped by unidentified person at Gokivada village in Pithapuram mandal of East Godavari district.
Teenager arrested in Punjab for sexually assaulting chicken
The cow, who is three-months pregnant, belongs to a farmer named Nama Butchi Raju. The cow had gone missing on Sunday morning and was later found bleeding and tied to a tree at a nearby field.
Later, a local veterinarian confirmed that the cow was sexually assaulted.
The farmer has lodged a police complaint. Meanwhile, the news has agitated villagers who have demanded stern action against the accused while alleging few similar incident in past.
