NEW DELHI - Six men accused in the gang-rape and robbery of a 39-year-old Swiss woman cyclist holidaying in India were sentenced to life terms Saturday by a court in central India.
"All the accused have been convicted and we are satisfied with the judgement," said the public prosecutor in the case, Rajendra Tiwari, after the ruling handed down by a special court, the Press Trust of India and other local media reported.
The rape of the Swiss woman came three months after the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in Delhi in December, which brought simmering anger about the treatment of women in India to the surface.
India's legal system has faced intense scrutiny over its efforts to curb violence against women following the Delhi rape. The six sentenced to life on Saturday were detained soon after the attack on the Swiss woman in mid-March in a remote, forested area of Datia district in central Madhya Pradesh state where the victim was camping with her husband. Her 30-year-old husband was tied up as the woman was assaulted and the pair were also robbed, according to police.
Only four of the six were charged with gang-rape because testimony from the victim said two of them were "only present at the crime scene", according to M.L. Dhody, a Datia police officer. The other two accused were charged with assault and robbery.
