Children take part in a candlelit vigil for a gang rape victim assaulted on a New Delhi bus. The incident in December 2012 triggered global outrage and highlighted the problem of sexual violence in India. Photo: Reuters
Police in eastern India are investigating the gang-rape of an elderly nun by burglars who broke into a convent school.
Two people have been arrested in connection with the alleged attack, which occurred on Friday night.
"A preliminary investigation has revealed that a nun at the school was gagged and gang-raped," police inspector general Anuj Sharma told AFP on Saturday.
At least 12 people were involved in the attack. The nun was recovering in hospital.
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Local residents took to the streets in anger, shouting slogans demanding action and blocking off the main highway.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted her condemnation of what she called a "horrific attack", promising "swift, strongest action".
The incident came at a time of heightened sensitivity over women's safety in India, which last week banned a documentary about the 2012 gang-rape of a student in Delhi that sparked mass protests.
Authorities said screening the documentary could have caused public disorder, but critics accused the government of being more concerned with the country's reputation than the safety of its women.
The December 2012 gang-rape of a young physiotherapy student highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world's second most populous country and triggered mass protests.
It led to a major reform of India's rape laws, speeding up trials and increasing penalties, although many campaigners say little has changed for women on the ground.
Local residents have taken to the streets in anger, shouting slogans demanding action and blocking off a main highway.
Students participate in a protest against the gang-rape of a nun at their school in Nadia district on Saturday. Photo: AP
A nun in her 70s was gang-raped by a group of bandits yesterday when she tried to prevent them from robbing a Christian missionary school in eastern India, police said, the latest crime to focus attention on the scourge of sexual violence in the country.
The nun was taken to hospital in serious condition after being attacked by seven or eight men at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Nadia district, 80km northeast of the West Bengal state capital of Calcutta, a police officer said.
The men escaped and police were searching for them, said the officer.
The robbers tied the school's security guards with ropes and entered the nuns' room, where the women were sleeping. They took one of the nuns to another room when she tried to block their way and then raped her, the officer said.
The woman who was attacked was either 71 or 72 and was the oldest nun at the school, he said.
The men escaped with some cash, a mobile phone, a laptop computer and a camera, all belonging to the school, the officer said. They also ransacked the school's chapel and holy items, the Press Trust of India news agency cited the archbishop of Calcutta, Thomas D'Souza, as saying.
Scores of angry students, their parents and teachers blocked a nearby highway and railroad tracks for several hours demanding swift police action leading to the arrest of the culprits.
Mamta Banerjee, the state's top elected official, strongly condemned the attack and ordered a high-level police investigation. D'Souza appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony in the area.
The December 2012 fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman aboard a moving bus in New Delhi triggered widespread anger at sexual violence across India.
