Western tourist is gang-raped and her companion killed in India

A Western tourist and her female travel host were allegedly gang-raped while stargazing in India by a mob of attackers who also killed their male companion.

The sick attack took place when the female host took her guests, an Israeli woman, two Indian men and an American man, on a stargazing excursion near the canal in Koppal town, southern Karnataka state, on Thursday evening. 

The three suspects arrived on a motorbike and approached the group, demanding cash. But, when an argument broke out, they launched an attack, throwing the three men into the canal. 

Police official Ram L Arasiddi said one of the tourists, an Indian man, drowned as a result and that his body was recovered on Saturday. The two other men swam to safety.

The two women were then beaten and sexually assaulted before the suspects fled the scene. 

A special investigation team has since arrested two of the suspects on suspicion of attempted murder, gang rape and robbery. The third remains at large. 

The incident has left the country reeling as Karnataka state President B.Y. Vijayendra dubbed the authorities 'delusional and indifferent'. 

'Our government is committed to providing protection to everyone, including tourists, coming to the state', he said, adding that measures will be put in place to prevent future attacks. 

Sexual assaults on women have become more commonplace in India, where police recorded more than 31,000 cases of rape in 2022 - a 20 per cent increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. 

It is thought the true figure may be higher still due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence. 

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

The attack sparked mass protests and prompted legislators to create fast-track courts for rape cases, and harsher penalties. 

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

In 2018, the government approved the use of the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of 12.

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.