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INDIA-RUSSIA-ASSAULT
Russian tourist allegedly gang-raped in India
NEW DELHI, July 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Indian police were holding six men on
Thursday after a Russian tourist was allegedly drugged and gang-raped in a
popular southern tourist town, officials said.
Media reports said the 21-year-old had bite marks on her face and arms when
she was found naked and unconscious on the floor of her hostel room early on
Monday.
“Six men have been detained over the rape and drugging of the woman,”
investigating officer Mangayar Karasi told AFP.
The woman, who was travelling on her own, had arrived in the town of
Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu state, 190 kilometres (120 miles) from Chennai,
last Thursday.
Those in custody included the hostel manger and her tourist guide, who told
police he found her on the floor hours after they had consensual sex, another
investigator said.
She said the woman was being treated in hospital for a drug overdose and
minor injuries, with efforts being made to record her statement.
The medical report has confirmed sexual assault, the officer said.
Local and foreign tourists flock to Tiruvannamalai for its 9th-century
Annamalaiyar Temple, one of the largest Hindu temple complexes spread over 10
hectares (25 acres).
Sexual violence is rife in India with nearly 110 rapes reported every day
but activists say that figure is the tip of the iceberg as most cases go
unreported.
Several foreign tourists have been sexually assaulted in India in recent
months.
Last month a Japanese tourist was raped by a taxi driver in a north Indian
town, followed by the rape of a 20-year-old Canadian tourist by her guest
house owner in Delhi.
India’s junior interior minister Wednesday told the national parliament
that 110,333 rape cases were reported in the country between 2014 and 2016.
The country’s dire record on sexual violence has been in the global
spotlight since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus
sparked angry protests.
The incident led to tougher sentences and reforms in the country’s rape
laws but sexual crime against women, as well as against minors, remains
rampant.
BSS/AFP/MR/1350 hrs