Jharkhand rape case: 'Defaming whole country is not good,' NCW chief slams US journalist for 'sexual aggression' post

 David, the journalist, said that he never met a female traveler who had not been groped or assaulted or worse, even if they had only been in the country for mere days.

NCW chief Rekha Sharma

Business Today, Mar 03, 2024 : The National Commission for Women (NCW) chief on Sunday responded to a US-based journalist who, in a post, said he witnessed the highest level of "sexual aggression" in India. NCW chief Rekha Sharma asked the journalist whether he reported such incidents to police. "If not, then you are totally an irresponsible person," she said. "Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not a good choice."

David Josef Volodzko, who has worked with WSJ and Bloomberg, said the level of sexual aggression he witnessed while living in India for several years was unlike anywhere else he had ever been. He said this after the police confirmed that a Spanish woman was gang-raped in Jharkhand's Dumka late Friday night.

David said that he never met a female traveler who had not been groped or assaulted or worse, even if they had only been in the country for mere days. "I love India. It is and always will be one of my favorite places in the world," he said. "But I have advised female friends who asked me not to travel there alone. This is a real problem in Indian society that warrants more attention and that I hope will improve in time."

Dumka Superintendent of Police Pitambar Singh Khairwar told India Today that the woman and her husband are bikers, and were passing through the region in Jharkhand towards Nepal after coming from West Bengal. As it was evening, the couple stopped to take rest and set up a makeshift tent in the Kunji village of Dumka. They were supposed to go to Bihar's Bhagalpur next on their journey to Nepal. Later, police patrolling at night found both the woman and her husband in a state of disarray on the main road.

The woman and her husband came to India on a tourist visa. They were on a mega trip around Asia. The couple first went to Pakistan from where they had gone to Bangladesh, before arriving in Dumka. They were planning to go to Nepal from Jharkhand.