3 arrested for gang rape of Swiss tourist

New Delhi - Three men have been arrested in connection with the gang rape of a 39-year-old Swiss tourist in Datia district of India's Madhya Pradesh state, police said Sunday.

The woman was gang raped Friday when she and her husband were camping near a village in the district during a cycling tour of the region.

Eight men attacked the couple with wooden sticks, beat up and overpowered the man and raped the woman, according to the couple’s complaint filed with the local police.

The men also looted the couple’s belongings including a laptop, mobile phones and 10,000 rupees (about 185 dollars).

The three suspects were produced before the couple who identified them, a local police official said over telephone.

The forests around the area where the couple camped had been cordoned off and a search was on for the other suspects, the official added.

The woman had been admitted to a hospital in the nearby town of Gwalior, where tests confirmed that she had been raped, police said.

The rising number of rape cases in India has been a cause of concern, especially after a 23-year-old woman was gang raped in a moving bus in the Indian capital in December 2012.

A total of 24,206 cases of rape were reported in 2011, with the highest number - about 14 per cent - occurring in Madhya Pradesh./DPA