Indian husband ‘threw acid on his wife after she refused to let his friends gang rape her when he lost a bet’
- A gambling addict, 36, allegedly threw acid on his wife, 30, in Hassanganj, Bihar
- He was arrested on Sunday after the attack on Saturday, Muzahidpur police said
- She escaped after the attack and went to her parents’ house in another village
A gambling addict threw acid on his wife after she refused to let his friends gang rape her when he lost a bet in India, according to police.
The man sent his 30-year-old wife to his friends to be raped in the northeastern Indian state of Bihar on repeated occasions before the acid attack on Saturday.
He had beaten her and held her hostage when she resisted on previous occasions before he was arrested on Sunday for throwing acid on her, Muzahidpur police said.
The alcoholic, 36, from Hassanganj, has been held by police for acid attack, gang rape, domestic violence and wrongful confinement charges.
A gambling addict threw acid on his wife after she refused to let his friends gang rape her when he lost a bet in Bihar, India, on Saturday, according to police. Pictured: Protests were held across India following the alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in September
Muzahidpur police official Rajesh Kumar Jha told the Independent: ‘The couple was married for about 10 years.
‘Her husband was into gambling and he lost her in a bet in late October. After that, he would send her to the gamblers against her wishes, where the men would rape her.
‘If she ever resisted the sexual exploitation, her husband would beat her and hold her hostage.’
The victim was previously gang raped by the group on October 28. The husband and the alleged rapists have not been named to protect her identity.
She escaped after Saturday’s acid attack and went to her parents’ house in another village the next day, reported the Times of India.
Social activist Deepak Sing took her to the police station on Sunday where she reported the attack to Bhagalpur SSP Ashish Bharti.
The victim said her husband used to torture her because she could not have children.
She is being assessed medically as police continue to investigate.
The attack come as incidents of domestic violence continue to sky rocket during the coronavirus lockdown in India.
The National Commission for Women reported gender-based violence has nearly doubled from the start of the year.
Bihar ranks 14th among Indian states for domestic violence in 2019 with about 2,300 cases, according to the latest government statistics.
An average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in India every day last year, according to data by the National Crime Records Bureau, but large numbers are thought to go unreported.