3rd June, 2014
Maneka Gandhi, India Minister for Women and Child Development, said police in Uttar Pradesh were trying to identify the body of a young woman who had been gang-raped, strangled and defaced with acid.
She said on Monday in New Delhi that the 22-year old’s body was found on Saturday in a village in Bareilly District.
Gandhi said few days back; two cousins aged 14 and 16, were abducted, raped and killed.
Sexual violence has been a focus of public attention in India since the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in December 2012 in New Delhi, which provoked fury and demands for better treatment of women.
The latest incidents sparked outrage in Uttar Pradesh and across the country.
Gandhi said she had been looking into the case of the mutilated woman when the news of the teenage cousins’ rape emerged.
“Both cases are heart-rending and we have asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to take action,” she said.
The minister said government would establish centers for rape victims in every district of the country to provide medical and legal help.