Swiss tourist gang-raped in India: police
AFP News - A
Indian policeman patrols Ganjbasoda in Madhya Pradesh state on
January 15, 2003. A Swiss female tourist was gang-raped in Madhya
Pradesh -- the latest victim of sexual violence against women
in …more
A Swiss female tourist was gang-raped in central India in
front of her husband, police said Saturday, renewing the focus on
the issue of sexual violence against women in the South Asian
nation.
The woman was on a cycling trip with her husband in impoverished
Madhya Pradesh state when seven to eight men attacked the couple
late Friday while they were camping, 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.
"We are deeply shocked by this tragic incident suffered by a Swiss
citizen and her partner in India," the Swiss foreign ministry in
Bern said in a statement.
The Swiss ministry said its diplomats in India were in contact with
local authorities and that it hoped the attackers would be "swiftly
identified and would appear before a court to answer for their
actions".
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.
"The victims, who belong to Switzerland, put up a tent to stay
overnight" in a forested area near a village when the attack
occurred, Afzal said.
Indian media reports said the men were wielding sticks when they
attacked the couple around 50 kilometres (35 miles) from Orchha, a
popular foreign tourist destination in Madhya Pradesh.
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 woman was released on Saturday from hospital, authorities
said.
Swiss Ambassador Linus von Castelmur has spoken to the victim and
assured her "of all possible help", the Press Trust of India
reported.
Some 20 people have been detained "on the basis of suspicion and
are being questioned in connection with the incident", senior local
police officer D.K. Arya told the news agency.
Reacting to the attack, the state's opposition leader Ajay Singh
said it "had brought a bad name to Madhya Pradesh at the
international level".
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.
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.
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.
According to government crime statistics, one woman is raped every
20 minutes in India, but most incidents go unreported, mainly due
to the victims' fear of being stigmatised in the sexually
conservative nation.
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Previously, the indians gang raped their fellow indian woman.
Now they went further to do it to foreigner.
Scary!
I am thinking if those in Singapore will victimise our local
.......