In India‘s capital, a 16-year-old girl was brutally stabbed and beaten to death on Sunday, igniting new outrage over men’s violence against women and the protection of women in the nation.
Security camera footage of the event, which lasted for more than a minute, shows a number of people passing by while the attacker strikes the victim repeatedly.
One man is all that is seen attempting to help, and he swiftly flees after failing to remove the attacker from the victim.
The body of the victim, who has not been identified, was found Sunday evening in the Shahbad Dairy area of the northern Delhi neighborhood of Rohini, where the incident took place.
On Monday afternoon, Indian police said they had arrested a male suspect named Sahil in connection with the murder.
Sahil, a mechanic, was detained in Bulandshahr in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state, Ravi Kumar Singh, Deputy Police Commissioner for Outer Delhi, told reporters on Monday.
Delhi’s Special Commissioner of Police Deependra Pathak told Indian news channel Times Now that the initial investigation pointed toward a so called “crime of passion.”
Speaking to Indian news agency ANI, the girl’s father said the family has demanded a “stringent punishment for the accused.”
The incident is the latest in a long line of killings and rapes that have triggered anger about whether enough is being done both to protect women in India and punish attackers.
“A minor girl is brutally murdered openly in Delhi,” Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote on Twitter. “This is very sad and unfortunate. The criminals have become fearless, and there is no fear of the police.”
“The safety of the people of Delhi is of paramount importance,” he added.
Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commision for Women, told ANI she’s never seen such a frightening incident.
“Delhi has become extremely unsafe for women and girls,” she added.
India has long struggled to address gender violence. A 2018 Thompson Reuters Foundation survey of experts on women’s issues ranked the country as the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman.
The frequency of crimes against women in India also appears to be increasing. According to data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau, crimes against women were 20% higher in 2020 compared to 2013 – the last year before the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power.
Activists say the real statistics are likely just the tip of the iceberg, given that many forms of violence against women, such as rape, are often underreported.
Yogita Bhayana, founder of People Against Rapes in India, said the problem is largely rooted in old societal norms.
“We learn to live with this kind of situation in our country which is very unfortunate,” Bhayana told CNN. “The basic patriarchal fabric is totally rotten and right now we need to fix that.”
“Putting cameras and putting marshals is not going to be enough,” she added. “The work has to be done on the mindset of the men and the boys.”