Bengaluru was not the only city where women were sexually assaulted on New Year's eve. However, what the police in Austria did after a similar attack is what sets them apart from Bengaluru Police's approach to the incident.
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After almost 18 women were molested by as many as 10 men during New Year festivities in Austria's Innsbruck, police have established a special unit to find the men responsible for the sexual assaults.
The attacks took place on women aged 19 to 25 in the main square of Innsbruck despite presence of 90 police officers. As many as 25,000 people had gathered there for the festivities.
The men reportedly in their teens were dancing around the women when they suddenly grabbed their breast and stuck their hands between their legs.
At least six attackers surrounded their victims and forcefully kissed and groped them. The attackers were described of Asian or North-African descent.
Innsbruck Police Commander Martin Kirchler said they would be searching asylum seeker shelters in Innsbruck and Tirol to look for the offenders. They have amateur video of the attacks.
They will also be analysing video footage and have appealed to people who were present at the location to let the police use their private video footage for investigation.
The New Year attack in Innsbruck is similar to those that took place in Cologne in 2016 where more than 100 women were assaulted. Sexual assaults were also noted in various other cities in Europe. It had led to violent protests in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policy coming into question.
Closer to home, Bengaluru's women faced similar incidents on New Year during festivities at the centre of the city in MG Road and Brigade Road. The police, however, said that no mass molestation took place in the area and pictures were misrepresented.
Politicians like Karnataka State Home Minister G Parameshwara and Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi blamed the victims for the attacks.
