Fourth suspect held over India sex attack
Suspects likely to face prosecution under new law that sets the maximum jail term for rape at 20 years.
Police in the Indian city of Mumbai have arrested a fourth suspect over the gangrape of a photographer, a crime that prompted anger about women’s safety in the country following a similar attack last year.
The announcement on Sunday means police have arrested four of the five suspects in the case in which a 23-year-old was allegedly raped in the centre of India’s financial hub.
She was taking photographs with a male colleague on Thursday evening in the abandoned Shakti Mills factory compound next to a fashionable area of apartment and office blocks, shops and restaurants.
The gang allegedly tied the male colleague up using a belt before repeatedly raping the woman.
The Times of India newspaper quoted her as saying “rape is not the end of life.”
The two suspects picked up overnight and two others arrested earlier are likely to face prosecution under a new law that sets the maximum prison term for rape at 20 years.
Police say they are searching for a last suspect in the case, which has renewed outrage among a public that was horrified by the deadly gangrape of student on a moving bus in New Delhi in December.
“We made the fourth arrest today and we are certain of getting the fifth soon,” Satyanarayan Choudhary, police spokesman, told AFP.
Mumbai police made the first arrest on Friday and arrested another two on Saturday, he said.
Earlier Saturday, one of the suspects was remanded in custody after appearing in court.
His grandmother told media he was only 16 and should be tried as a juvenile. Police initially said he was in his 20s.