An Indian student is in hospital after being allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by a group of men last week, the same men who raped her nearly three years ago.
According to Agence France-Presse news agency, police are hunting for five suspects accused of drugging, kidnapping and raping the 21-year-old student.
The news agency reported the woman was found unconscious in some bushes next to a highway last week. The victim was later able to identify her attackers, of which two are on bail awaiting their trial for raping the student in 2013, AFP reported.
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“She has identified the five accused and two of them were involved in the gang-rape of the student in Bhiwandi district in 2013,” Haryana Police deputy superintendent Pushpa Khatri told the news agency. “We have formed several teams to arrest the accused.”
Speaking with The Indian Express, the family of the victim said the two men accused of the 2013 rape began to track the family following their release on bail in June.
“For the last two years, we stayed almost in hiding. But I will not give up. My daughter is still in a state of shock and we just want her to get well soon,” the mother told the English language newspaper. “Over the last five days, she has repeatedly said she wants justice. She wants them hanged. We will settle for nothing less.”
According to AFP, a small protest broke out in the town of Rohtak, demanding justice for the victim.
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Violence against women in India has caused increasing alarm since the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian physiotherapy student in New Delhi in 2012. Several foreign tourists also have been targeted in attacks that often get international attention, although Indian women are assaulted far more frequently.
Citing recent figures, AFP reported that 36,735 rapes were reported across India in 2014.
–with a file from The Associated Press
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