India: Woman 'Raped by Husband and his Legal Team at Court'

A woman in India has said she was gang raped by her husband, his lawyer and two other men inside the Patiala court complex in New Delhi.

The woman, who was filing for divorce from her husband, is thought to have been attacked inside a lawyer's chambers at the complex.

She said her husband's lawyer had lured her to the chambers on the pretence of settling her divorce petition.

The 25-year-old told how her husband and sister-in-law took her into the chamber where she was then raped by her spouse, his brother-in-law, his lawyer and the lawyer's assistant.

The incident was reported to police yesterday evening. Investigators are now checking CCTV footage from the courts.

"The victim made the allegation against her husband, husband's lawyer, a clerk, and her husband's brother-in-law. A case regarding the incident has been registered after the victim's medical report, and [a] probe is on into the incident," SBS Tyagi, deputy commissioner of police, told IANS.

In a further explanation, police said: "After talking at court for hours, the lawyer asked them [the woman and her husband] to come to Patiala House court.

Nation 'cannot prosper'

"She reached Patiala House court and went to the lawyer's chamber where her husband offered her beer which she refused. After that all the accused gang-raped her."

The men who raped the woman later threatened her with "dire consequences", police added.

This is the latest gang rape case to surface in India. Last week, a Swiss tourist was raped by eight men while on a cycling trip to New Delhi with her husband.

The group beat her husband and tied him to a tree before raping her. Six men have appeared in court charged with the attack.

In December, a 23-year-old student was gang raped on a bus in New Delhi and was beaten so badly she died from her injuries later in hospital.

Altamas Kabir, Chief Justice of India, recently spoke of his concerns over the number of attacks on women: "A nation which cannot ensure respect for its women, can never prosper.

"The 16 December incident left the entire nation shaken. Every morning, we wake up to find newspapers replete with stories of violence against women.

"Madan Mohan Malaviya had realised the need for uplifting the status of women decades ago and the ideal needs to be preserved."