A protester holds a placard to protest the gang rape incident in New Delhi. PHOTO: REUTERS/ FILE
The woman was on a cycling holiday with her husband in the impoverished Madhya Pradesh state when six men attacked the couple on Friday night, sexually assaulting the woman in front of her husband and robbing the pair, police said.
"We have detained five men and they have confessed to gang-raping the woman and attacking her husband," local police official MS Dhodee told AFP.
The five men, who eke out a living as small-scale farmers, have been arrested on charges of rape and robbery, Dhodee said.
Police are searching for a sixth man, who was also involved in the crime, he said.
The alleged rapists live in a village near the forested area where the couple had stopped to camp for the night, while on a cycling trip to the popular tourist destination of Agra in northern India, Dhodee said.
"They were passing by, noticed the couple putting up their tent and saw an opportunity to attack and rape the woman," he said. Her husband was tied up during the attack.
They also stole a laptop, a mobile phone and INR10,000 from the couple, which the police are trying to recover, added Dhodee.
After the attack, the rape victim, aged about 40, and her husband, reported to be around 30, stopped a motorcyclist who took them to the nearest police station, said SonntagsBlick, a Swiss German-language newspaper.
She underwent a medical examination at a local hospital before leaving for the Indian capital Delhi, police said.
"The victim and her husband have left for Delhi, since there was no need for her to stay in hospital here," another local police official UC Shadangi told AFP.
Shadangi said that police were in touch with Swiss embassy officials, who declined to comment to AFP about the case.
The Swiss foreign ministry in Bern released a statement on Saturday expressing deep shock at the "tragic incident".
The couple arrived in Mumbai last month after visiting Iran and began a cycling holiday across India, making their way to Orchha, a popular foreign tourist haunt in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, Shadangi said.
The attack comes just three months after thousands took to the streets in nationwide protests following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi.
The victim, a physiotherapy student died from internal injuries after being savagely assaulted by six men. One of her alleged attackers was found dead in his prison cell in New Delhi on Monday.
Police suspect he hanged himself, but his family says he was murdered. The government has since opened an investigation into his death.
India's government is facing heavy pressure to step up efforts to protect women after the deadly gang-rape in the capital last December.
Under a new bill approved by India's cabinet last week, rapists face a minimum 20-year jail term and the death penalty if the victim dies from injuries or is left in a persistent vegetative state.
COMMENTS (8)
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@Jamal: Indian MOVIES have diddly to do with the rape epidemic. It's the mindset of men and a culture that blames women for their wardrobe or their 'character' not to mention barely acknowledges the existence of marital rape. Rape is a global problem but you won't find anyone in Western countries pointing fingers at the woman or expecting HER to change anything about her lifestyle the way you do in the East. Entertainment is just another place to point the finger as opposed to pointing it where it really should be: at the perpetrators.
@Gp65 The definition of word Rape is different in different countries.The countries you mentioned has the definition of rape in their law as any unwanted access to opposite sex even if a lady or even a man does not want to be touched (the word needs further explainatio) by the opposite or even same sex but that happens one is liable to go for reporting it as rape in these countries and is counted.Unlike south asia where the thing is only higlighted when in extreme case,even many cases are not reported by the affected families to save some face of the public.Lately indian movies have been spreading a very wrong message especially such cases are on the rise and would rise further if no check is applied to it.
shining india
we should consider/treat rapists equivalent to terrorists
@G antanu: India has a problem and it needs to be fixed. When you say it has become the most insecure place for women then I think you are far away from facts.please google and find lmetrics for rape data per 100000 population. India is nowhere near the top. What is happening and which I heartily support is that the Delhi gangrape has created great attention and focus on the issue of violence against women and rapes now get far more attention than they used to. This national churning is important to change the mindsets. So wide publicity for such events is a good thing despite the downside of international image being impacted disproportionately. Once we change the reality, the perception will catch up.
@angry Indian check out the number of rapes in Australia and New Zealand who get ten times the tourists that India does. Rapes happen everywhere in the world - it does not mean people stop travelling. The important thing is to ensure that the rape victims get justice and also that mindset of society changes such that the perpetrator is lamed instead of the victim. India is going in the right direction though it has a long distance to travel.
Kudos to India for the public outrage and quick arrest of these low life rapists.
India has become among the most unsecure place for woman. Yesterday a lady was gangraped in a bus in indore.
I wish forefingers would not come to India. There are two reasons why I say this: 1) I'm ashamed to say that nothing will ever change - no matter how many women are raped and/or killed. Ill treatment of women and violence against them is a longstanding Indian tradition/culture. And the so-called Hindi belt (North India, including MP) are some of the worst places. The Indian govt, the police, and the justice system will NOT help you. You're on your own. 2) Every time foreigners come to India, and convert their foreign currency to Indian rupees, they are propping up a corrupt, ineffective, and tyrannical government. By infusing foreign exchange in to this inflated and bubble economy, you are lowering the cost for the Indian government to borrow. This allows them to spend as they please - including politically motivated grants and subsidies during elections. By visiting this HORRIBLE country, you are not allowing a loud and clear message to reach the govt, the media, and the civil societies. The message that this state of affairs has to change. I've simplified my argument here, but please please believe me when I say that you are delaying the widespread revolution that is needed in India - similar to the Arab spring - if this country is to have any viable future.
Foreigners - don't come to this horrible country. There's nothing to see here!