Ranchi:

Days after a Spanish tourist was allegedly gangraped in Jharkhand’s Dumka, a stage performer has accused three men of spiking her drink and gangraping her in the state’s Palamu district.

Police have arrested two accused and one is on the run.

The 21-year-old survivor is recovering at a government-run hospital. She has told police that she is a resident of Chhattisgarh and had come to Palamu to perform in an orchestra event.

Orchestra shows are a hugely popular form of stage entertainment in small Indian towns. An orchestra party typically comprises singers, musicians and sometimes, dancers, who perform on an indoor or outdoor stage. The artistes often collaborate with musical troupes and travel to other states to perform.

The survivor has told police that Golu, one of the accused, runs an orchestra group in Palamu. He had called her and her sister for a performance at a wedding on Saturday. The survivor said she had worked with Golu earlier.

The performance, she said, was cancelled and Golu brought them to his home. The two sisters were given separate rooms. Golu then offered cold drinks to them. The survivor has alleged that her drink was spiked. She has told police that she was intoxicated, but awake. Golu and two others repeatedly raped her in that state, she has alleged. “It was dawn. They had mixed something in my drink and three men raped me,” she said in a statement from the hospital bed.

The Palamu case comes days after Jharkhand made headlines for the shocking violence against a Spanish couple travelling through the state. The Spanish woman has alleged that they were staying in a tent when some men assaulted her husband and gangraped her.

An official has told news agency PTI that at least seven people were involved in the incident. The couple is being treated at a local hospital and three arrests have been made so far.

The Opposition BJP has said the incident is a “stain” on Jharkhand. “This shows the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and that even foreigners aren’t safe here,” BJP MLA Anant Ojha has said.

Jharkhand Minister Banna Gupta has said the state government is committed to taking strict action against the accused.

New Delhi:

A US-based journalist’s post on “sexual aggression” in India in the wake of the Jharkhand gangrape allegations has drawn a sharp response from National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma.

Ms Sharma questioned if the post’s author, David Josef Volodzko, had reported to police any of the incidents he had mentioned in his post. “Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not good choice,” she added.

Did you ever report the incident to Police? If not than you are totally an irresponsible person. Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not good choice. https://t.co/PiDyspKsiU

— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) March 3, 2024

David Josef Volodzko’s blue tick profile on X describes him as the author of a newsletter on political extremism, The Radicalist. It also says he has earlier written for prominent publications such as New York Magazine, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

Responding to the Jharkhand incident, in which a Spanish woman has alleged that she was gangraped in Dumka, Volodzko wrote, “The level of sexual aggression I witnessed while living in India for several years was unlike anywhere else I have ever been.”

He then claimed that a British woman once requested him to let her sleep in his bunk during a train ride in India “because a man walking by in the hall had licked her foot and she felt unsafe”. He also alleged that a young man he had introduced to a woman friend groped her instead of shaking her hand. “I never met a female traveler who had not been groped or assaulted or worse, even if they had only been in country for mere days,” he alleged. “I love India. It is and always will be one of my favorite places in the world. But I have advised female friends who asked me not to travel there alone. This is a real problem in Indian society that warrants more attention and that I hope will improve in time,” Volodzko added.

The post on X sparked strong, and varied, responses. While some expressed shock, others said their experience during their India trips has been completely different.

The Jharkhand government has, meanwhile, formed a special investigation team to probe the Spanish tourist’s allegations. Three persons have been arrested and a search has been launched to catch the other accused.

The woman has alleged that the incident took place on Friday night, when she and her partner were spending the night in a tent at Kurumahat, about 300 km from state capital Ranchi.

Police have said a patrol team found the couple on the roadside. “The patrol team sensed that something had happened to them. Since they were speaking in Spanish, the police could not understand what they were saying. The policemen brought them to a local hospital assuming they needed some treatment,” senior officer Pitambar Singh Kherwar said, according to news agency PTI.

The Spanish woman told the doctors that she was sexually assaulted, police said. “We were informed about the incident around 1.30 am on Saturday. The investigation started as soon as we received the information. We spoke to the victim. We detained some people and they admitted to their involvement. The accused took some other names. We have formed a team and raids are being conducted to catch the other accused. We are also taking the help of a forensic team and CID,” the officer said.

District Civil Surgeon Baccha Prasad Singh has told PTI that the woman, aged around 28, and her 64-year-old husband were being treated at a state-run hospital in Dumka and both are out of danger.