Six Indian Men Convicted in Brutal Gang Rape of Swiss Tourist

By Doug Barry | July 21, 2013 | 5:00pm

Latest

The six Indian men charged back in March with the horrific gang-rape of a Swiss tourist have been convicted in the province of Datia and sentenced to life in prison, thanks in part to the recent pressure on Indian officials to do a better job protecting women from sexual violence. According to CNN, the men have continued to deny the charges of rape and robbery, and may appeal the Datia court’s decision.

In March, it was reported that a Swiss couple cycling across India was attacked at their camp near a forest in Datia by group of men from a local tribe. The men assaulted the couple, beating the husband and raping the wife, according to police investigators, who recovered valuables (a laptop and a mobile) stolen from the couple during the attack. The couple had decided to stay in India to pursue charges against their attackers, and news of the incident set off a wave of protests in the region, forcing several opposition lawmakers in India’s Madhya Pradesh state to resign due to what they described as a “collapse of law and order,” also, in this particular instance, known as “people being fed the fuck up with India’s institutionalized rape culture.”