(Vatican Radio) Six men, all between the ages of 19 and 25 years, have been arrested
by the police of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in connection with the
gang rape of a Swiss national on a cycling tour of the region. The 39-year-old victim
and her husband were on a kind of adventure tour when on Friday, they reached a place
called Datia, located within a forested area in the state. They had pitched a tent
and settled down for the night when they were subjected to the sudden attack by a
group of men whom they described as carrying guns. Listen to this report from Carol
Andrade in India:
The woman
was subjected to sexual assault and her husband was beaten up when he tried to protect
her. They were on a three-month vacation and had visited the tourist town of Orcha
and planned to cycle on to Agra when the crime took place at 9 pm. The gang also took
away the couple’s possessions, including a laptop, a mobile and other things. In shock,
the woman was treated for injuries in Gwalior before leaving for the capital. To do
them credit, the police swung into vigorous action, detaining 20 people at first.
On the basis of leads given to them, five men were arrested early on Sunday morning
and a sixth was picked up later with a .12 bore gun. More importantly, and setting
doubts to rest about their role in the crime, the police recovered the laptop and
mobile phone as well as other things robbed from the couple. All were young, one of
them had still to complete 20 years. The police also produced the men in front of
the media.
On Monday the gang was produced in court and remanded to custody.
All of them are reported to have admitted to their crime, in itself unimportant since
Indian courts do not admit confessions unless backed up by evidence. But for once,
the police are confident that they have enough to put them away for a very long time
indeed, given the mood with regard to sexual violence against women, especially gang
rape.