A Swiss tourist on a cycling tour with her husband was raped by four men on Friday night in Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state famed for its ancient temples and palaces, police said.
The woman, 39, and her husband, were camping in dense forest about 400 yards from a road near the town of Datia when they were attacked by seven or eight men, said Dalip Arya, deputy inspector general of police for the Chambal area of Madhya Pradesh State in a telephone interview. The woman was raped by four of the men, Mr. Arya said.
The couple were making their way from Orchha to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, police said. The journey was part of a cycling tour from Mumbai to New Delhi. They were in India on a three-month tourist visa, Mr. Arya said.
The incident is the latest example of violent sexual attacks of women in India. Reported rapes have risen in recent years, and reports of gang rape are becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in Northern India. In Deceber, a 23-year old student was raped by five men and a juvenile on a moving bus in Delhi, and later died from her injuries. That incident sparked widespread protests in India, and demands that the government do more to protect women.
The Swiss woman and her husband were brought to a nearby police station at 10:45 p.m. by a motorcyclist they stopped on the road, Mr. Arya said. The woman had to travel 85 kilometers (53 miles) away to Gwalior, a nearby city that was once the seat of generations of ruling royalty, for a medical examination, he said.
“We are interrogating 20 suspects, but nobody has been arrested yet,†he said. Officials did not release the woman’s name.
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