A couple from Spain who cultivated a following documenting their travels by motorcycle have revealed that they suffered a horrific attack while passing through India. Vincente and Fernanda, known to their audience as Vuelta Al Mundo En Moto (Around The World By Motorbike), released a somber video from a hospital in India explaining that they had been assaulted, robbed, and that Fernanda had been gang raped.
Vincente and Fernanda have travelled to over 60 countries since beginning their journey from Barcelona 5 years ago, racking up over 170,000 kilometers as they jaunted the world on their motorbikes. The couple, who are also brand ambassadors for KLIM Motorcycles, have gathered 122,000 followers on Instagram documenting their journey, meals, and experiences as they trek across continents.
But their journeys through South Asia took a disturbing turn yesterday after the couple uploaded two stories to their Instagram revealing that they had been assaulted while traveling in India.
In the first video, posted on March 1, Fernanda and Vincente are seen with ample bruising and swelling on their face, as both look on the cusp of tears. In a statement given to Spanish media, they revealed that they had been assaulted after visiting the Dumka district of India’s Jharkhand state – a well-known tourist destination.
The couple had been making their way to Nepal via Bhagalpur, but had stopped in Dumka to rest and pitch their tent near the Hansdiha market. After falling asleep, 7 young men broke into the tent and assaulted them both.
“They beat us. They put a knife to my neck, and told me they were going to kill me,” Vincente says in one of the videos, his lower lip swollen and appearing to be stitched up. “Fernanda was raped. Seven of them. Seven men. Sons of bitches…”
While Vincente has a number of bruises on his head, the side of Fernanda’s face appears to have taken a far worse beating, with dark red marks on her cheek and jawline.
“We are at the hospital, here in India. We are with police. They let us sleep here,” Fernanda says, her eyes red with tears. Vincente then explains that after reporting the rape, they had been brought to the Saraiyahat Community Health Centre so that Fernanda could have a rape kit done.
The English overlay caption of the video reads: “Something has happened to us that we would not wish on anyone. Seven men have raped me. They have beaten us and robbed us, although not many things because what they wanted was to rape me. We are at the hospital with police. It happened tonight here in India.”
According to EuroNews, the Spanish embassy in India has contacted the local authorities and has sent personnel to consult in the region and offer support to Vincente and Fernanda.
Three of the seven suspects are currently in custody.
The video was uploaded to X (formerly Twitter) by journalist Anna Slatz, who described the situation to her followers. Since posting the video, it has attracted over 500,000 views and hundreds of shocked and outraged comments.
While many expressed sympathy for the couple, some users began relaying their own experience traveling to India, with the overwhelming majority of them being negative.
“The level of sexual aggression I witnessed while living in India for several years was unlike anywhere else I have ever been,” David Josef Volodzko wrote in reply to the video. “Once a total stranger, a British woman, asked to sleep in my bed and pretend to be my girlfriend on a train ride because a man walking by in the hall had licked her foot and she felt unsafe. I introduced a female friend to a young Indian man and instead of shaking her hand, he groped her breast, and when she became angry he became extremely hostile and I thought I was going to have to fight the guy.”
A female user named Sasha wrote: “I spent 6 weeks in India (was supposed to be 3 months) nearly 15 years ago. I was 21 and travelling solo and it was honestly the worst place I’ve been on earth. Wild animals would have more restraint than Indian men. Got sexually harassed all day, every day. I’d never go back.”
Others noted that this was not the first high-profile story involving rape in India in recent years, with 90 sexual assaults being reported every day in the country.
In another shocking case from 2018, a tourist from Latvia was gang raped and murdered after traveling to Kerala seeking treatment for her depression. Liga Skromane, 33, went missing after visiting a yoga retreat. Her beheaded, butchered corpse was found one month later in a wooded area.
While the suspects involved in Skromane’s case were. briefly apprehended, the Kerala police initially claimed that there was no foul play in her death.
