A nun in her 70s has been gang-raped by a group of raiders as she tried to prevent them from committing a robbery at a Christian missionary school in eastern India, police said.
The nun was taken to hospital in serious condition after the attack by seven or eight robbers at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in West Bengal state's Nadia district, investigators said.
Officers are searching for the bandits who escaped with cash, a mobile phone, a laptop and a camera belonging to the school. They also ransacked the school’s chapel and holy items.
The attack is the latest crime to focus attention on the scourge of sexual violence in India.
Officials say the woman is either 71 or 72 and is the oldest nun at the school.
Student protest
Scores of angry students, their parents and teachers blocked a nearby road and rail tracks for several hours demanding swift police action.
Mamta Banerjee, the state’s top elected official, strongly condemned the attack and ordered a high-level police investigation.
Archbishop of Kolkata Thomas D’Souza appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the area.
India has a long history of tolerance for sexual violence but the December 2012 fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman aboard a moving bus in New Delhi caused outrage across the nation.
The outcry led the federal government to rush through legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20-years and criminalising voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to open cases when complaints are made.
PA