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Indians participate in a protest against gender discrimination and sexual violence in New Delhi, India (File photo) Altaf Qadri/AP/Press Association Images

Swiss woman gang-raped in central India

The woman was on a cycling trip with her husband in impoverished Madhya Pradesh state, when seven to eight men attacked the couple on Friday night, police said.

A SWISS FEMALE tourist was gang-raped in central India in front of her husband, police said today, 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 on Friday night 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.

One woman raped every 20 minutes

“The victims, who belong to Switzerland, put up a tent to stay overnight” in a forested area 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, 212 miles (342 kilometres) from state capital Bhopal, local police official M.S. Dhodee said.

The woman was released later in the day from hospital, local media reports said. Dhodee told AFP that police were still investigating the case but added that “a rape case has been registered against seven unidentified people”.

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.

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.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: Suspect in Delhi gang-rape trial found dead in prison

More: Riot police fire water cannon at India rape protest

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Dec 16th 2013, 7:28 AM

    The Chinese need to have a word with young Kim before he does something stupid & starts a war that nobody wants.

    129
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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Dec 16th 2013, 10:16 AM

    On November 3rd, the marxist state carried out 80 public executions in seven cities for crimes ranging from the distribution of pornography and foreign merchandise to possession of a Christian bible. It has been reported that children witnessed executions in at least one case.

    According to Amnesty International North Korea executed 30 people in 2011 and 6 last year. At least 100 have been executed this year. This would appear to show that North Korea’s authorities has recently acquired a blood-lust.

    The reasons for the marked increase in rates of executions are not clear, but according to JoongAng Ilbo (the South Korean newspaper that originally reported the story) the show-piece executions were “an extreme measure by the central government to stamp out public unrest or capitalistic zeal accompanying its development projects.”

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    Mute Mick Jordan.
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    Dec 16th 2013, 12:44 PM

    Might not do any good with this lunatic Thomas. Uncle Jang was Beijing’s man in the Government. I think he actually believes his own propaganda that NK doesn’t need anyone.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Riain
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    Dec 16th 2013, 7:47 AM

    An interesting approach to weeding out corruption in government.
    Why don’t we give it a whirl??

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    Mute Ed Appleby
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    Dec 16th 2013, 11:14 AM

    The army wouldn’t have enough bullets to shoot the amount of corrupt greedy parish pump dictators and half arsed teachers who infest the political system in Ireland. Anyway you get what you vote for.

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    Mute James O'Sullivan
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    Dec 16th 2013, 8:13 AM

    Old Moores Almanac says that a certain short fat arrogant little dictator will be gone by mid 2014.
    No idea where he’s going though…..although Florida was mentioned.

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    Mute MGrey
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    Dec 16th 2013, 9:59 AM

    I thought Rabbitte was on his way to Europe?

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    Mute declan hegarty
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    Dec 16th 2013, 7:30 AM

    I think Kim got the right idea…….. He knows how to keep his cabinet on their toes…………or on their backs

    If Enda was more like him our no2 would be shaking in his boots

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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Dec 16th 2013, 12:38 PM

    Ah don’t worry Enda’s got his report cards….

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    Mute William Grogan
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    Dec 16th 2013, 9:22 AM

    “Pyongyang labelled him a drug-addicted womaniser who frequented foreign casinos with embezzled state funds.”

    Sounds like a family trait, Kim Jong-Un’s brother was a fan of the casinos too.

    It’s very hard to see this dictatorship ending peacefully.

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    Mute Shit you not
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    Dec 16th 2013, 8:39 AM

    Nuke em!

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    Mute MrKnow
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    Dec 16th 2013, 9:08 AM

    Is that you john mc cain??

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    Mute Dom AcePlazo
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    Dec 16th 2013, 7:44 AM

    Just let them get on with it and keep sending the food parcels.

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    Mute ptriley
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    Dec 16th 2013, 11:24 AM

    Let them eat cake or rice cake even !

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    Mute Donal O Neil
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    Dec 16th 2013, 2:18 PM

    Oh yes the report card no one has seen or heard of since … Bad minister , I’m going to give you 100 lashes and you can write out the constitution 100 times .

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