Kidnapped woman rescued from Delhi car after onlookers hear her cries for help

Shocking cases of rape and assault of women in India have renewed focus on sexual violence

Indian riot police guarding a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student in New Delhi in 2012, which triggered nationwide protests (Getty)

A woman kidnapped by three men in a car in New Delhi was rescued after onlookers heard her cries for help when the attackers started molesting her, according to Indian news reports.

The alleged victim, who is in her 20s, was spotted by a group of young male motorbike riders eating at a roadside food stall, who chased after the car for several miles before they managed to stop it and free the woman, police said.

A mob then surrounded the vehicle, pelting it with rocks and setting the car alight.

Two of the abductors were arrested by police but a third managed to escape, The Times of India reported.

"The woman was in a state of shock and semi-conscious when we rescued her," the paper quoted Aman Goyal, one of the youths involved in the chase, as saying.

The incident, in Begumpur, in the southern suburbs of the Indian capital, took place on Saturday evening after the victim accepted a lift from a man whom she knew from her work as a housekeeper in the north-west of the city.

When she got into the car she said she realised there were two other men already inside, who began to assault her.

The Times of India said the men removed her clothes and when she shouted for help, they rolled up the car’s windows.

"After the Hyundai Accent car started going in an unknown direction, the woman got suspicious and asked them to stop, but they did not,” a senior police officer told DNA India.

“Sensing danger, she started shouting, which is when a group of youths, who were having dinner at a dhaba [roadside restaurant], heard her.

"Within 10 minutes, a police team from a picket also joined the hot chase and both the youths and the police together forced the driver of the car to pull over.

“As soon as the car stopped, the woman jumped out and was rescued.”

The accused men have been charged with assault of a woman with intent to disrobe and abduction.

The burnt-out car has been seized as evidence and police are continuing to search for the third attacker.

Sexual violence demonstrators protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi in October 2015 (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

Several shocking cases of rape and assault of women in India have renewed focus on sexual violence in the south Asian country.

In June a 25-year-old woman was reportedly gang-raped in a moving car by three men in south Delhi. All of her attackers were arrested.

The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 triggered the first nationwide protests about violence against women and the failure of authorities to protect them.

Around 80 per cent of Indian women say they have been harassed by men in public, known as “Eve teasing”, which includes catcalling, lewd comments and being followed by strangers.

And in recent years, New Delhi has earned the title of "rape capital" of India, in part blamed on a lack of female police.

Authorities in India have attempted to address the problem and last month an all-female police force was established in the city of Jaipur.

The latest statistics made available by India’s National Crime Records Bureau showed there were more than 34,000 cases of rape against women in the country in 2015.