Swiss tourist gang-raped and robbed in MP: police

A Swiss woman, who was allegedly gang raped, is escorted by police as she is taken for a medical examination at a hospital in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, yesterday.

Agencies/Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

A Swiss female tourist was gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh, police said yesterday, the latest victim of sexual violence against women in the country.

The woman was on a cycling trip with her husband in 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 said, adding that they stole Rs10,000 ($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, when they stopped to camp for the night in a village.

“The victims, who belong to Switzerland, put up a tent to stay overnight” when the attack occurred, Afzal said.

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, 342km from state capital Bhopal, another police official M S Dhodee said.

The victim was conscious yesterday and speaking to authorities, police said. No other details of her condition were known.

Sources said eight people had been detained for questioning.

Dhodee said the police were still investigating the case but added that “a rape case has been registered against seven unidentified people.”

The Swiss foreign ministry in Geneva released a statement saying they were aware of the case, but declined to provide any details, citing concerns about confidentiality.

“Our Swiss mission is in contact with local authorities,” the statement said.

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 1.2bn.

One woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. But police estimate only four out of 10 rapes are reported, largely due to victims’ fear of being shamed by their families and communities.

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 Congress-led central government has been under heavy pressure to step up legal protection for 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.

Women activists welcome new bill

IANS/New Delhi

Women’s rights activists welcomed the anti-rape bill cleared by the federal cabinet, terming it a step forward for women’s rights in India and urged political parties to enact it into law.

“The approval by the union cabinet of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013 on March 14 signals a step forward for women’s rights in India. We call upon the political parties who profess to stand up for women’s rights to show this in their deeds, and ask parliament to enact this bill into law,” a statement from a group of women’s rights activists said.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 which provides for stringent punishment for crimes against women, including rape, was cleared by the cabinet on Thursday.

Various women’s rights organisations also said the bill seeks to protect society from the scourge of sexual violence.

“This is not a bill against men, it is a bill against criminals; it is a bill from which all citizens stand to gain peace of mind and respite from the mindless violence that stalks us. As representatives of women’s rights groups, human rights groups, lawyers and activists from across the country who have worked for decades towards reforming laws on rape and sexual (crimes), we welcome several provisions in the draft Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013,” Farah Naqvi, a women’s rights activist, said.

She also welcomed the move to lower the age for consensual sex from 18 to 16 years.

“The age of consent, which has been 16 years under the Indian Penal Code since 1983, has been retained at that. This is not a moral endorsement of teenage sexual activity.