Agra student strips in public to demand arrest of alleged rapist, an IIT MTech student

A 20-year-old engineering student in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, publicly stripped in an attempt to prompt the arrest of a man who allegedly raped her. The accused, a 22-year-old MTech student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jammu, was finally arrested on Tuesday after a 17-day delay.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the student's public protest was a result of her frustration with the lack of action by the authorities. Following the incident, she was taken to a mental hospital, where she was observed for three days.

A senior police officer stated, "We called the accused to Agra for further investigation and later arrested him when we found that he had been mentally and physically harassing her for the last few months."

The accused hails from Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh and completed his BTech at a university in Agra before enrolling at IIT Jammu. The incident allegedly took place on August 10. The woman, originally from Lucknow, reported to the local police that she was raped in a moving car by the accused on the evening of August 10. An FIR was filed on August 11, but the police reportedly delayed the arrest, citing the accused's presence in Jammu at the time of the alleged crime.

Over the following days, the woman repeatedly visited police stations and met with senior officers. Frustrated by the lack of progress, she chose to undress in public on Sunday, hoping to compel the authorities to take action.

A social worker who witnessed the protest said, "The woman undressed herself on the road in the afternoon and yelled anti-police slogans. Two women quickly came to her aid, covered her with clothes, and took her to a nearby clinic. We thought she might be mentally distressed and alerted the police, who then took her to the mental hospital."

The hospital's director said, "She was admitted here on Sunday evening, and we kept her under observation for three days. During this period, we closely monitored her daily activities, from morning until bedtime. We observed nothing unusual, and on Tuesday, she was handed over to her mother, who had been brought here from Lucknow."