DUMKA – A 28-year-old motorbike-riding travel vlogger on a world tour with her husband has demanded justice after saying she was brutally gang raped by a group of men in eastern India.
Brazilian adventure traveller Fernanda told reporters on Tuesday that she wanted to see “strict punishment for the criminals”.
She showed reporters injuries on her face and added: “I have been travelling for the past six years across the globe but have never faced such issues.”
Eight men aged between 18 and 30 have been arrested and appeared in court on Monday.
Fernanda and her Spanish husband, Vincente, were en route to Nepal when they stopped on Friday for the night at the village of Kurmahat in Dumka district of Jharkhand state.
“We were tired and decided to stop before resuming our journey. We were resting inside our makeshift tent in an isolated location but soon eight men approached us around 7pm,” she said in a written statement to the police.
The blogger, who has more than 700,000 followers on her Instagram account Fernanda.4ever, said the perpetrators hit her 63-year-old husband and tied his legs and hands.
“They then forcefully picked me up after threatening me with a dagger and took me in an isolated location and took turns in raping me,” she alleged. “They also snatched my husband’s Swiss knife, my wristwatch, $300, some Indian currency and also other belongings.”
She said the couple escaped on their motorcycles and reached the main road about2km away at around 11pm: “We saw a police patrolling van and told them about the horror. The cops immediately took us to a hospital where medical examination confirmed the rape.”
Police arrested all three men by Monday night. Local authorities said they had paid $12,000 (£9,428) compensation to the alleged victims.
Fernanda, 28, has travelled to 63 countries and covered more than 153,000km during her travels with her husband on their bikes. She said the couple were resuming their trip on Tuesday after staying in government accommodation for three days.
“I have nothing against India or its people because they have been very supportive and kind to us,” she said. “People have been very nice wherever we went.”
Se recounted the incident and posted a video on her Instagram page, but it was later deleted.
The couple arrived in India in mid-July and entered Jharkhand state from neighbouring West Bengal.
The alleged assault has led to widespread condemnation in India, with commentators saying such incidents will tarnish the country’s image as a safe country for foreign tourists.
Police initially reported there were seven attackers but on Tuesday said they believed eight men were involved.
PS Kherwar, police superintendent in Dumka district, told i that the accused were unemployed locals aged between 18 and 30.
He advised foreign tourists to immediately inform the local police station while visiting the area “so that we can ensure their safety”.
An average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in India in 2022, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, but many are said to go unreported due to stigma against victims and a lack of faith in police investigations.
Convictions remain rare, with cases getting stuck for years in India’s justice system.
The Brazilian embassy in India told the BBC that the woman and her husband “were victims of a serious criminal attack” and it had contacted the woman and local authorities as well as the Spanish embassy, as the couple were using Spanish passports.
“The Spanish embassy said that it had offered all the assistance available, including psychological care, but that the victims had declined the offer as they were already being looked after by the Indian emergency services,” the Brazilian embassy said, adding that it would continue to “monitor all developments”.
