The world is big.

From the people and their culture, to the cuisine and delicacies and more, there is so much see and experience.

People become world travelers because of the exploration and the adventure, the cultural immersion, and for personal growth and development. Some do it as an escapade or relaxation, while others do it for education and learning. Others can do it to build connections and relationships, or seeking inspiration and creativity.

Vicente y Fernanda is a Brazilian-Spanish citizen, an Instagram influencer, and an avid world traveler.

With her husband, the couple had been documenting their cross-country motorcycle trip to more than 300,000 Instagram followers, covering hundreds of thousands of kilometers together, visiting more than 60 countries, before they found themselves in India, where Fernanda was gangraped by a group of men while they were camping in the eastern state of Jharkhand.

Fernanda was violated while her husband was forced to watch.

"They raped me, they took turns while some watched and they stayed like that for about two hours," Fernanda said in the interview.

At some point in the ordeal, the men also threatened to kill her, she said.

The couple also detailed the alleged savagery on Instagram, which showed Fernanda and her husband's bruised faces.

"Something happened to us that we wouldn’t wish on anyone," she said.

"They had beaten us and robbed us, although not many things [were taken] because what they wanted was to rape me," the 28-year-old woman said in an Instagram post.

"We were assaulted in the tent. We were beaten. They put a knife to our necks and she was raped by seven guys," her husband continued.

"My mouth is destroyed, but my partner is worse than me. They hit me with the helmet several times, with a stone on the head. Thank goodness she was wearing the jacket and that stops the blows a little."

This happened when the couple stopped their motorbikes, and set a tent to pass the night because they couldn't find a hotel at that moment.

The original post was deleted a while later.

Both Fernanda and her husband were touring South Asia and had concluded a trip to Sri Lanka before the Indian leg of their journey.

“I thought they were going to kill me. Thank God I am still alive.”

The couple were rescued when a patrol car happened to be passing in the area at about 11 p.m., and escorted them to a nearby hospital.

The Dumka police superintendent Pitamber Singh Kherwar confirmed that the two victims suffered injuries, and were taken to a hospital where the woman told doctors that she had been raped by a group of men.

Read: Global Outrage After A Video Of Two Women Paraded Naked Went Viral

"The couple were speaking in a mixture of English and Spanish so the patrolling team could not understand them initially," the superintendent said.

"But they appeared visibly injured so they were taken for treatment."

All the members of the group have been identified.

In a statement on X on Tuesday, Dumka Police said that eight men had been arrested over the weekend.

"All eight criminals involved in the incident of rape of a foreign woman under Hansdiha police station area were arrested and strictest action is being taken against all the criminals," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said that it had sent staff to the Dumka district to get in touch with the local authorities, while the Brazilian authorities said they had sought to contact the victims through its embassy in New Delhi and was available to offer every assistance..

Discussing rape culture in any context, is crucial but sensitive.

Rape culture refers to a societal environment where sexual violence is normalized, excused, or even encouraged. It encompasses attitudes, behaviors, and societal norms that trivialize or ignore the seriousness of rape and sexual assault.

In India, as in many other parts of the world, there are systemic issues contributing to the prevalence of rape culture.

The thing is, cultural factors that put men above women, and media portrayal where sexual violence is depicted, have influenced towards sexual violence. Not to mention things like caste dynamics and religious beliefs may reinforce ideas of male entitlement and female subservience.

Making things worse, reports suggest that gender inequalities and victim blaming have made way too many cases went unreported.

Because of this, the legal and justice system in India face significant challenges in addressing sexual violence effectively.

Sexual violence targeting women is common in India, with women from minority tribal communities being particularly at higher risk.

An average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in India every single day, meaning that one woman was raped every 18 minutes, in 2022, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, which recorded 31,516 rape cases that year.

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states recorded the highest number of rape cases.

And this gang gape case of Vicente y Fernanda sparked some fiery online debates.

"I have been sexually harassed several times in India, like every woman I know who has spent time there. It tends to get press attention when the target is a foreigner. But Indian women face this issue more than anyone else," said Audrey Truschke, a South Asian historian and associate professor at Rutgers University.

The fear of harassment or assault "is ever-present […] even in the company of familiar men," said Shonali Verma, a consultant at a private company in New Delhi, adding that "sexual abuse from individuals in our own circles" was not uncommon.

"To deny that India has a SA problem is to deny all of our lived experiences," said Madhura Rao, a food systems scholar at the Athena Institute of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Growing up in India left her with "so much distrust for men in public spaces" that she could not enjoy activities such as camping and going to concerts.

"I don’t know a single woman who has not faced some form of harassment or worse while in India," shared Sohni Chakrabarti, an associate lecturer at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Comments like these go on and on.

Read: Three Men Gang-Raped A Woman, And Livestreamed Everything On Facebook

While the term "rape" is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault, a rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent.

And a gang rape can be referred to a rape that is perpetrated by two or more men.

With many women in particular, generalizing Indian men as rapists, and that the country is not safe for women, the case have sparked both concerns and disagreements.

"Do not think that India is like that, because it is not true. India is a country with many good people," said a social media user.

"It is a great country worth visiting, like all countries, it has its good and bad things," another user said,

Fernanda herself has called for people not to generalize the country despite the fact they had encountered the "undesirables."