Woman in India raped in broad daylight but onlookers do nothing to stop it

Have humans become this degraded?

A 43-year-old woman in India, who had left her home after a family dispute, was allegedly raped by a drunk man in full public view on a busy footpath - and in broad daylight too.

But it gets worse. Not a single soul helped the victim and onlookers took out their smartphones to start taking videos of the deplorable act.

According to reports, the incident occurred on Sunday at 2pm near a railway station at Visakhapatnam, India.

The 23-year-old truck cleaner G Shiva has been arrested, reported Times Now.

Hindustan Times was told that passers-by did not bother to stop him even when the woman was too weak to scream.

A driver who shot a short video of the assault brought it to the police. In the video clip, people are seen walking past while the man was sexually assaulting the woman.

Police spoke in anger about how nothing was done to help the woman.

In a report in The Sun, officer K Suresh said: "Apparently, she was very weak as she had not eaten for several hours and was sleeping on the footpath under the shadow of a tree, when her attacker, in an inebriated condition assaulted her sexually."

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"Instead, some of them were more interested in capturing the incident on their mobile phones. After some time, a driver shot a short video of it and brought it to our notice.

"It clearly shows how the people have become insensitive to attacks on women."

The accused had already fled by the time the the police arrived but was later arrested. Shiva has been charged under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for rape.

klim@sph.com.sg