- The women were kidnapped at gunpoint in Khunti, India, on Tuesday afternoon
- According to police the assailants shot videos on their phones of the incident
- They had been performing a play to raise awareness about human trafficking
- There were approximately 39,000 rape cases reported across India in 2016
Five women working for a charity in remote eastern India have been abducted and gang-raped at gunpoint, police said on Friday.
The women were reportedly performing a play to raise awareness about human trafficking in the largely tribal Khunti district of Jharkhand state on Tuesday when they were abducted.
According to police, the assailants shot videos of the attack and threatened the women if they reported the incident.
The women worked for the non-governmental organisation Asha Kiran which is supported by a local Christian missionary group, police officer Rajesh Prasad said.
Police and soldiers in the remote district of Khunti, Jharkhand state, were called in to investigate on Tuesday
The women were said to have been working for non-governmental organisation Asha Kiran (pictured)
‘We have been questioning several people,’ Prasad told AFP.
Police have also rounded up some supporters of Pathalgadi, an anti-establishment self-rule movement popular in several tribal villages.
Pathalgadi supporters resent outsiders and do not allow them to enter or settle in their area.
Khunti is also a hotbed of Maoists, armed guerrillas who have been waging a decades-long insurgency mainly for land rights.
Prasad said the women had undergone medical tests and that police were awaiting the results.
India has been in the global spotlight since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked angry protests.
But the number of sex attacks has grown since then with some 39,000 rape cases reported nationally in 2016.
Jharkhand has especially been in the spotlight after three teenagers were raped and burnt alive in separate incidents last month.
Jharkhand has seen protests after three teenagers were raped and burnt alive in separate incidents last month
The assailants were said to have taken the women away at gunpoint and shot videos of the attack
Advertisement