NEW DELHI // India’s record on sexual violence is again under the spotlight after five men were convicted on Monday of gang-raping a Danish tourist in New Delhi in 2014.
The five were found guilty of the rape and robbery of the 52-year-old woman, who was attacked at knifepoint after losing her way as she returned to her hotel in central New Delhi.
Three others charged over the attack are being tried separately in the juvenile justice system. A ninth accused, an adult, died before the trial ended.
The Danish woman, travelling alone and in Delhi after visiting the Taj Mahal, had approached a group of men for directions as she returned to Delhi’s main backpacker area. The assault in January 2014 was the latest in a series of sex attacks on foreigners in India which reignited concerns about women’s safety in the country.
A Polish woman had been drugged and raped as she travelled to Delhi with her young daughter in a car, just before the attack on the Danish woman.
India’s government toughened jail sentences for rapists and overhauled policing procedures in the wake of the 2012 fatal assault on a New Delhi student, who died after being gang-raped on a moving bus.
That attack sparked furious mass street protests about high levels of violence against women, as well as global headlines about the treatment of women in India.
On Monday the five accused, escorted by police into court, showed little emotion when the verdicts were read out. A hearing to determine sentencing will be held on June 9.
Neither the victim nor members of her family were in court for the verdict.
* Agence France-Presse
