Monday, March 18, 2013

Tourists Now Drawn Into India's War On Women

Police in India's Madhya Pradesh state have arrested six people in connection with the gang rape of a Swiss tourist.  The woman was attacked with her husband as they camped in woodland near a village in Datia district.

The men appeared before a local magistrate and were remanded in custody to return to court later in the week.  The arrests came as India's politicians prepared to debate a new law against rape, after the outcry over the fatal assault on a Delhi student last year.

Police spokesman Dilip Arya said the six men accused of the Swiss woman's attack  were aged between 20 and 25, and belonged to a local tribe.  The 39-year-old victim and her husband had been cycling from Orchha to Agra, to see the Taj Mahal, when they decided to camp for the night in a forested area.  According to the husband, the group of men had approached them at about 21:30. They then began beating him with wooden sticks before tying him up and sexually assaulting his wife in front of him.

The assailants stole the couple's valuables, including 10,000 rupees ($185), a laptop computer and a mobile phone, before fleeing into the woods. Police said they had recovered the phone and the laptop from one of the suspects, according to reports.

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