Five confess to gang-raping Swiss tourist in India

INDIA: Five villagers have confessed to gang-raping a Swiss tourist in central India, police said Sunday, 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 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.

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".

AFP