A Swiss female tourist, on a cycling trip with her husband,
has been gang-raped by a group of seven to eight Indian persons at a forest
area in the South Asian country, police say.
The gang attacked the couple in impoverished Madhya Pradesh
state on Friday night, sexually assaulting the 39-year-old woman, police said
on Saturday.
Local police official S.M. Afzal told AFP that the attackers
"tied up the man and raped the woman in his presence" and added that
the men robbed 10,000 rupees ($185) and a mobile phone.
The rape victim was conscious on Saturday and speaking to
authorities, police said.
In her statement to the police, she said that the couple
were both Swiss. However, police said they had not yet seen their passports to
confirm their nationality.
"The victims, who belong to Switzerland, put up a tent
to stay overnight" when the attack occurred, Afzal said.The Swiss tourist’s rape, the latest case of sexual violence
against women in India, came only months after a brutal gang rape and
subsequent murder of an Indian woman.
The 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped and thrown
out of a moving bus on December 16, 2012, in the Indian capital New Delhi.
The horrific nature of the crime shocked Indians, who
thronged the streets, demanding protection for women and capital punishment for
rape, which currently carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
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