The Swiss woman, centre, is escorted by policewomen for a medical examination at a hospital in Gwalior, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday. Picture: AP Source: AP
FIVE villagers have confessed to gang-raping a Swiss tourist in central India, police said, in an incident that has renewed focus on the rampant violence against women in the country.
The woman was on a cycling holiday with her husband in impoverished Madhya Pradesh state when six men attacked the couple on Friday night, sexually assaulting the woman 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 M.S. Dhodee told AFP.
Police are searching for a sixth man, who was also involved in the crime, Dhodee 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.
He added that the five detainees would be arrested shortly, pending formalities.
Indian children participate in a protest against child abuse and rising crimes against women, in Bhubaneswar, India, on Saturday. Picture: AP
After the attack, the rape victim, aged about 40, 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 U.C. 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 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 in December.
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.
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.
The national Congress-led government has been under heavy pressure to step up legal protection for India's women following the December attack on the student who died from internal injuries after being savagely assaulted by six men.
Last Monday, Ram Singh, one of six accused on trial over the December assault was found hanged in his high-security jail cell in New Delhi. Police suspect he hanged himself, but his family says he was murdered.
Under a new bill approved by India's cabinet earlier in the week, rapists face a minimum 20-year jail term and the death penalty if the victim dies from her injuries or is left in a persistent vegetative state.
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