A Japanese woman was sexually assaulted by a group of men during the celebration of the Hindu festival of Holi in New Delhi on Wednesday. The young woman could be seen in a video being groped by five or six men who forcefully smeared her face with colours while screaming “happy Holi”.
The video, now viral on Twitter, showed a man also smashing an egg on the woman’s head as she got shoved around. The victim could be heard saying “bye-bye” as she attempted to escape the crowd. Eventually, the woman slapped another man who tried to get hold of her while she went into a narrow ally.
The video has sparked outrage about women’s safety during the spring festival, where women have often complained about being harassed and groped by men under the pretext of applying colours.
No complaint or call regarding any misbehaviour with any foreigner was received by the local police station. However, the police has sent an email to to the Japanese embassy for details of the woman seen in the video.
Moreover, authorities were trying to establish the identity of the men seen in the video through local intelligence. Swati Maliwal, the chair for Delhi Commission for Women, called the incident “completely shameful behaviour” and said she is issuing a notice to Delhi police to arrest the perpetrators.
In a separate incident, a 65-year-old woman in the eastern state of Jharkhand was beaten to death by a group of six people for allegedly stopping them from applying colours to her son.
