Frustrated that no one would believe she was abused, a teenage girl in northern India had no other option but to film her own father raping her. She later showed the recording to authorities which led to her father's arrest.
An 18-year-old girl, who was given the alias Sarita Devi, had been telling her mother and older sister about the abuse since 2012. However, they would quickly dismiss her every time. They would say to Sarita that her 53-year-old father isn't capable of doing such a heinous crime. The teenager got tired of being ignored so she recently decided to take matters into her own hands, as per Daily Mail.
"My father has been sexually assaulting me for four years. I always tried talking to my family about it but no one believed me," she said. "I did not have any proof. I collected the proof this time for myself to be able to raise my voice against my father."
Sarita's father would sexually assault her whenever her mother and older sister weren't at home. During the last incident, Sarita carefully positioned her mobile phone on a window then turned the video recorder on. After the abuse, she immediately showed the footage to her mother before filing a complaint at the Uttar Pradesh police station.
Chief officer Alok Saxena said Sarita brought the recording to their office and was asked to register a first information report. Her father was later arrested following a brief investigation.
"He has admitted that he has been assaulting his daughter all these years," Saxena reported. "A case has been registered against him under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act."
According to the Indian National Crime Records Bureau via Reuters, nearly 90 percent of rapes in the country were committed by people close to the victims such as their relatives, neighbors or friends.
Anti-rape protests in the country have captured the attention of the international media. Various women's rights groups are now urging Indian rape victims to speak up and register the abuses.
