Tourist gang-raped and friend killed in brutal attack while stargazing in India

A tourist and her travel host have been gang-raped while stargazing in India.

One of their male friends was killed when the attackers hurled him and two other men who had been with them into a canal in Karnataka in the country’s south.

Police said the group were targeted by three men on a motorbike who initially asked them for money.

Two of the suspects have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, gang rape and robbery.

The victims, and Israeli woman and her homestay operator, were stargazing with three male travellers – an American and two Indians – when the attack happened.

An argument was said to have broken out between the group and the three attackers.

They then pushed the male travellers into a canal and subjected the women to a sex attack.

Sexual assaults on women have soared in India.

There were 31,516 rape cases in 2022 – a 20% rise in a year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

But the real figure is believed to be far higher due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence and victims’ lack of faith in police.

Rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the brutal 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus.

The attack galvanised massive protests and inspired lawmakers to order the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases and stiffen penalties.

The rape law was amended in 2013, criminalizing stalking and voyeurism and lowering the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.

The government in 2018 approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under age 12.

Despite stringent laws, it’s rare for more than a few weeks to pass without another brutal sexual assault being reported.

High-profile cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue.

Last year, in a video that was later deleted, a Spanish tourist said his wife was raped in northern India while an Indian-American woman said she was raped at a hotel in New Delhi.

In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa.