WUNRN
INDIA - POLICE SAY 5 ADMIT TO RAPING
SWISS WOMAN TOURIST
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March 16, 2013
Two other suspects are being sought, said D. K. Arya, a senior
police officer. The five men arrested in Datia on Sunday are from villages near
where the attack occurred Friday night as the Swiss couple camped in a forest
in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh state.
The couple told police that the woman had been raped by seven or
eight men, but that it was dark and they could not be sure of the exact number,
Arya said. They said the husband also was attacked by the men.
The woman, 39, was treated Saturday at a hospital in the nearby
city of
The attack was front-page news in Indian newspapers and happened
three months after the fatal gang rape of a woman aboard a
Prior to the attack, the Swiss tourists, who were on a three-month
visit, had visited the temple town of Orchha and were planning to cycle to Agra
to visit the Taj Mahal, nearly 210 kilometers (130 miles) away.
They set out from Orchha on Friday and pitched their tent in a
forest near Jatia village when they were attacked by men armed with sticks,
police said.
The men beat up the husband, tied him to a tree and then raped the
woman, police said. They also stole the couple’s cellphone, laptop computer and
10,000 rupees ($185). Police said they recovered the laptop and phone from one
of the men who was arrested.
The Swiss ambassador in
“Their health and treatment is the priority of the moment,” the
Swiss Embassy said in a statement.
The embassy said it has urged a “swift investigation and for
justice to be done.”
Figures from
Last month, the Swiss government issued a travel notice for
Travel industry representatives in
“Such incidents will definitely have a negative impact on tourism.
It is very unfortunate,” said Subhash Goyal, head of the Indian Association of
Tour Operators.
According to government statistics, around 6.5 million foreign
tourists visited
One of six suspects in the December attack was found dead in a
After the attack, the government passed a law increasing prison
terms for rape from the existing seven to 10 years to a maximum of 20 years.
The law provides for the death penalty in extreme cases of rape that result in
death or leave the victim in a coma. It has also made voyeurism, stalking, acid
attacks and the trafficking of women punishable under criminal law.