Mumbai gang-rape victim discharged from hospital

MUMBAI - A young photographer gang-raped in Mumbai last week in an attack that sparked outrage has been discharged from hospital, staff said on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old woman was assaulted while she was on assignment for a magazine in central Mumbai with a male colleague, who was tied up and beaten, police say.

The woman was admitted to the city's Jaslok Hospital with internal and external injuries after the attack last Thursday evening.

"She was discharged," a hospital official told AFP, adding that she was now at home.

Also on Wednesday, police took the five arrested suspects in the case to the crime scene at an abandoned mill compound for a reconstruction of events, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Police arrested them within three days of the incident that shocked Mumbai, which has long been considered one of the safer cities for Indian women.

The case had stark parallels with the fatal gang-rape in December of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi, which ignited nationwide protests and led to a toughening of the law against rape.

The family of the photographer in Mumbai released a statement at the weekend saying they were "optimistic" their daughter's case would be fast-tracked and the "severest of punishments" would be imposed on those responsible.

In the wake of the attack, Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh sparked anger by suggesting that city residents need to choose between a "promiscuous culture" that allows public kissing, or a city made safe by "moral policing".

"On the one hand you want to have a promiscuous culture and on the other hand you want a safe and secure environment for the people," he said on Tuesday.

Police in and around the city have faced criticism for targeting unmarried couples or single women out late instead of potential sexual predators.

Best-selling Indian novelist Chetan Bhagat was also slammed on social media sites on Wednesday after tweeting that the country's plunging currency had been "raped".