Gang-raped Danish tourist seeks damages for suffering, trauma

StA 52-year-old Danish tourist, who was allegedly gang-raped by eight people last year in Delhi, on Thursday sought compensation from a city court for the suffering and trauma caused by the incident. The woman moved a plea seeking damages, which the court kept in abeyance saying it will decide the application at the end of the case. 

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja took the plea on record but said the court would consider it at the time of conclusion of the case if the accused are found guilty of the offences. According to sources, the woman in her application said since the day she was raped, she has undergone immense trauma and has still not recovered from it. She said she has not resumed her normal work till date.

Section 357A of the CrPC relates to the victim compensation scheme where the Government has to prepare a scheme for giving funds for compensation to the victim who has suffered loss or injury as a result of the crime. Meanwhile, the court also ordered diet money for the victim and two Danish police officers, who have come to India for deposition in the case. The allowance to be given to the witnesses includes travel, accommodation and food expenses.

In Indian currency, the amount to be given to the victim and the two accompanying policemen totals over `76,000 and `96,000 and `96,000 respectively. 

The two policemen from Denmark told a Delhi court on Thursday that the woman was “extremely traumatised” when she reached her native country after the gangrape and has still not recovered. Baweja recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses Rasmus Nielsen, Inspector (Investigation) in Copenhagen Police and Britta Almfort, Detective Inspector with the force.

The Delhi Police, in its chargesheet, had said the eight accused, all vagabonds, had allegedly robbed and gang-raped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014 after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club near New Delhi Railway Station.

Nielsen said he had met the victim at Copenhagen airport on the evening of January 15, 2014 and with the help of a nurse provided to help victims of rape she was taken to hospital. The woman was examined at the special ICU in the hospital and her forensic medical examination was also done, he said. 

He said had he conducted the woman’s interview and the case was handed over to Detective Sergeant Almfort.He added that he had interviewed the woman thrice in January last year and it was recorded in Danish and then translated in English. “In the interview, she was asked about the incident. She was extremely exhausted and traumatised and so she was not able to narrate the complete facts at that time,” Nielsen deposed, adding that in the first interview on January 15, 2014, the woman had given details about the age of some of the perpetrators.

Witness Almfort, who was marked with the case on January 20, 2014, testified that she had interviewed the victim twice and she was in a “very bad condition, both mentally and physically” when she met her.“The victim was extremely traumatised by the incident and she has still not recovered completely. Her teeth were also damaged in the incident and she had not resumed her normal work till date,” Almfort said, adding that the woman was still afraid of going out in the dark. 

During the hearing, Almfort also identified the signature of the doctor who was a forensic medical expert and said she has been working with him for the past 25 years. She said Dr Steen Holger Hansen had collected samples of the victim during her medical examination and the samples were sent to concerned department for DNA profiling. She said the victim had told her that the offenders were between the age group of 18 to 45 years. The court fixed July 9 for recording statements of other prosecution witnesses in the case.

The victim, who was visibly depressed, was also present during the proceedings and sat with her head down. She also broke down outside the courtroom.

The court had on Wednesday recorded the statement of the victim, who came here from Denmark in pursuance of summons issued earlier, with the two Danish police officials. She had identified three of the six adult accused as the ones who had gang-raped her.