A woman was raped in broad daylight on a busy public thoroughfare in west India on Sunday as several people passing by filmed the horrific incident instead of helping her.
The woman, in her late 20s, had stopped for a short rest under a tree by the side of the road in the Andhra Pradesh city of Visakhapatnam on the Bay of Bengal.
She was attacked and raped at around 2:30pm local time by a 23 year-old man, in full view of the people around on the road.
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The woman had left her home just outside the city a few days earlier after fighting with her husband, according to reports.
Ganji Siva, the alleged rapist, attacked the woman without reason and sexually assaulted her by the side of the road.
"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 Siva, in an inebriated condition, sexually assaulted her," Visakhapatnam IV town police sub-inspector K Suresh told the Hindustan Times.
"People passing by did not bother to stop him even as the woman was too weak to even scream."
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Numerous bystanders filmed the attack, and one video by a rickshaw driver from across the street made it into the hands of the police eventually.
The video shows people walking by casually as the man rapes the woman, and no one stops to help her.
The assailant had fled the scene of the crime by the time police arrived, but officials were able to identify the man through eyewitness accounts and arrested him.
The accused has been detained and will now stand trial.
Ever since the video appeared on the social media, several people in India have expressed their outrage that people filmed the incident instead of trying to help the woman.
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Rey endiraaa idi 🙏🙏🙏🙏
— ᴵⁿᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ʷⁱˡᵈ (@ProNeeth) October 24, 2017
Shocking: Woman Raped In Broad Daylight on the Footpath in Vishakaptam, Onlookers Record Video Instead of Helping! https://t.co/jPVSF19zax via @Untold Story of India
Another Twitter user had a different opinion.
https://twitter.com/gudfrend/status/922771742417932288
This article originally appeared in the Daily Mail
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