NEW DELHI, March 18, (Agencies): Six men appeared in court on Monday over the gang-rape and robbery of a Swiss cyclist holidaying in India, an assault which has rekindled alarm about the safety of tourists and rising sex crimes.

The six, who were detained after Friday’s attack on the 39-year-old victim in Datia district in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, were brought before a local magistrate.

“The magistrate sent the accused on a one-day police remand (custody),” said Datia district deputy police chief R.S. Prajapati. “These men will be now further questioned.

The latest incident comes three months after the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in Delhi sparked nationwide outrage.

Paraded
Five of the suspects, all farmers in their twenties, were paraded in front of television cameras in Madhya Pradesh late on Sunday. They were dressed in jeans and shirts but with black cloth covering their faces.
The sixth man, 19, was detained in a neighbouring state overnight and brought back to Datia, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of New Delhi.

Only four of them will be charged with gang-rape, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years, because testimony from the victim said two of them were “only present at the crime scene”, said M.L. Dhody, another Datia officer.

All the men face robbery charges as police say the group stole a laptop, a mobile phone and 10,000 rupees ($185) from the victim and her 30-year-old husband, who was tied up before the sexual assault.
“The six of them have confessed to their roles in the crime,” Dhody said.

Indian law does not permit statements made in police custody to be used as evidence during trial.
The Swiss couple arrived in the country last month and were cycling through northern India on a trip that included a stop in the Taj Mahal city of Agra.

The suspects allegedly saw the pair pitching their tent on Friday night in a remote forested area in Datia and attacked them. The Press Trust of India news agency said at least one of them was armed with a shotgun.

After being treated in a local hospital, the couple are now in the capital recovering and have pledged to stay to help police identify the rapists.

They have “expressed their readiness to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigation and identification process. They will continue to stay in India for the moment,” the Swiss Ambassador Linus von Castelmur said on Monday.

Last month the Swiss foreign ministry issued an advisory for its nationals travelling in India, warning that sexual violence was on the rise across the country.
The Delhi attack last December spurred countrywide protests over the treatment of women in Indian society and the inadequacy of laws dealing with sexual crimes.
Under a new bill approved by the cabinet last week, rapists face a minimum 20-year jail term and the death penalty if the victim dies from injuries or is left in a persistent vegetative state.
In January a South Korean student holidaying in Madhya Pradesh, India’s largest state, said she had been raped and drugged by the son of the owner of the hotel where she stayed.
India’s Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi said in a statement that he was “anguished” by the “heinous” crime and called for tourists to take greater precautions.
He “felt the need for a more concerted effort by involving all state governments, so that all tourists are advised to inform their nearest police station whenever they venture out into remote areas”, a statement from his office said.
The Swiss couple told police that the woman had been raped by seven or eight men, but that it was dark and they could not be sure of the exact number.

Recovered
The men beat up the husband, tied him to a tree before raping the woman, police said. They also stole the couple’s cellphone, laptop computer and 10,000 rupees ($185). Police said they recovered the laptop and phone from one of the suspects.

The Swiss tourists were on a three-month India holiday and had visited the temple town of Orchha. They were planning to cycle to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) away.

They set out from Orchha on Friday and pitched their tent in the forest near Jatia village when they were attacked by men armed with sticks, police said.

Last month, the Swiss government issued a travel notice for India that included a warning about “increasing numbers of rapes and other sexual offenses” in the South Asian nation, and the latest incident could prompt other countries to issue similar warnings.

On Monday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported that the 39-year-old woman said she will stay in India for now to help the investigation. There was no immediate confirmation and phone calls to the Swiss Embassy went unanswered.

After last December’s bus attack, the government passed a law increasing prison terms for rape from the existing seven to 10 years to a maximum of 20 years. The law provides for the death penalty in cases of rape that result in death or leave the victim in a coma. It has also made voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women punishable under criminal law.