On Monday a fifteen-year-old girl reported being raped by a hospital security guard while she was in the hospital recovering from another rape by another teenager in Jamshedpur, India. The second rape occurred only five days after the first. While the victim’s mother was out, the security guard escorted the victim to the toilet and then followed her in to assault and rape her.
The girl has been removed to another hospital and the accused under arrest. Twelve members of the security staff were detained by police for their role in helping the accused flee, including one female guard who reportedly scolded the victim’s mother while she attempted to report the crime.
The incident highlighted rising incidents of crime against women in the tribal-majority state. Till November 2015, the total number of rape cases lodged in Jharkhand was 1,124 against 967 during the same period in 2014. Besides sexual assaults, Jharkhand is notorious for rampant trafficking of tribal girls who are forced into a life of bonded labour or prostitution.
