Indian police said Tuesday that an American woman was sexually assaulted by three men in the early morning hours near the northern Indian town of Manali.
The woman, 30, told police that she accepted a ride from a truck driver who told her he would drive her from Vashisht where she was visiting other tourist friends to her guest house in Manali. She boarded the vehicle at about 1 a.m. The driver then took off in a different direction, about 10.5 miles outside of her destination, where she was overpowered and raped, Reuters reported.
She was then dumped on the highway two hours later where she made her way to a bus stop and began calling for help. She was found by police and taken to the station where the report was filed at 4:30 a.m., the Wall Street Journal reported. Hospital testing confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted.
No arrests have been made in the case. A few men who matched the descriptions provided by the victim were detained for questioning. They were later released after the woman told police that they were not her attackers, according to Vinod Kumar Dhawan, police superintendent in Kullu.
A police inspector who declined to be named told Reuters that the woman is being guarded by police escorts and appears to be doing well.
"Her condition is stable and she is accompanied by two women constables. All medical help has been given, and the doctors have been taking care of her," the inspector said. "We have told her we are like family and are available for any help."
The name of the woman has not been released due to Indian law prohibiting the exposure of that information without explicit permission from the victim or family members. Peter Vrooman, spokesman for the U.S. embassy in New Dehli, told reporters that the embassy has been in touch with law enforcement in Manali about the incident, but declined to provide further comment due to issues of privacy.
Gang rapes in India have received widespread attention, especially following the case of a 23-year-old Indian woman who was attacked on a bus on Dec. 16. She died of her injuries two weeks later, sparking mass protests demanding better protection for women against sexual assault. The National Crime Bureau reported 24,206 rape cases in India in 2011. The number is said to be higher as current statistics do not reflect unreported rapes.
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