India’s rape addiction is on the roll again as reports spoke of
the gang-raping of a A Swiss female tourist in rural central India, by between
seven and eight men. Worst of all, they mindless rapists did the act in the
presence of the woman’s husband.
The woman was on a cycling trip with her husband in impoverished
Madhya Pradesh state, when seven to eight men attacked the couple on Friday
night, sexually assaulting the woman and robbing the pair, police said.
The attackers “tied up the man and raped the woman in his
presence”, local police official S.M. Afzal told AFP, adding that they stole
10,000 rupees ($185) and a mobile phone from the woman.
The attack comes just months after thousands took to the streets
to protest against India’s treatment of women following the fatal gang-rape of
a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi in December.
The couple were on their way to the tourist destination of Agra,
home to the iconic Taj Mahal monument, in northern India when they stopped to
camp for the night in a village.
Indian media reports said the men were wielding sticks when they
attacked the couple.
After the attack, the rape victim, aged about 40, was admitted
to hospital in Gwalior city, 212 miles (342 kilometres) from state capital
Bhopal, local police official M.S. Dhodee said.
The victim was conscious on Saturday and speaking to
authorities, police said. No other details of her condition were known.
She told police that the couple were both Swiss, police said,
but they added 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 other police official, Dhodee, told AFP that police were
still investigating the case but added that “a rape case has been registered
against seven unidentified people”.
In 2003 a 36-year-old female Swiss diplomat was abducted in the
car park of a popular New Delhi auditorium, driven away by two men and raped.
She was freed later nearby. No one has been convicted for that attack.
Concern remains high in India over the safety and status of
women and girls in the country of 1.2 billion.
Rape is one aspect of a wide range of violence, including
domestic assaults, against women in India that claims many thousands of lives
each year, according to rights workers.
Last year, a physiotherapy university was raped viciously by a
gang in New Delhi. The victim later died after doctors battled vainly to save
her in Singapore. Her rape and death ignited demonstrations in the country.
But since then, there haev been many reports of gang raping in
the country.
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