In a shocking incident from Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj, a young girl lay injured and bleeding on the premises of a government guest house in the Tirwa area of the district while a group of men stood around filming instead of helping her.
Videos of the heart-breaking incident have been widely shared online.
One such video - a 24-second clip - shows the young girl lying on the ground and weakly holding her hand (with what seem to be bloodstains on it) up and asking for help. Some of the men gathered around can be heard calling for the police but nobody (in the video) makes any apparent attempt to do so.
The girl only received medical assistance after local police arrived. Manoj Pandey, the policeman in charge of the local outpost, took her to a hospital in an auto rickshaw. The girl has since been referred to Kanpur for treatment.
Hindustan Times could not independently verify the video.
(Viewer discretion is advised as some scenes may be disturbing)
According to news agency PTI, the girl went out to the market on Sunday but did not return home, following which family members launched a search.
{{/usCountry}}According to news agency PTI, the girl went out to the market on Sunday but did not return home, following which family members launched a search.
{{/usCountry}}Superintendent of Police Kunwar Anupam Singh told PTI the girl may have been accompanied by an as yet unidentified male. Sexual assault or rape has not yet been confirmed, he added.
Initial CCTV footage from the guest house shows the girl talking to the unidentified male. "The identity of youth is being ascertained. Only after the reports, (can) it be said (if) the girl was raped or not," Singh told PTI.