Police have arrested eight men in connection with the rape and subsequent murder of a Nepali woman in Rohtak, north-west of New Delhi. Police had found the mutilated body of the 28-year-old woman on a field in Haryana on Wednesday, nine days after her family lodged a missing complaint with Rohtak police.

On Monday, locals had demonstrated to press for investigation, suspecting of rape before murder. President of Haryana-based Non-Resident Nepali Association Mohan Thapa said the woman was due to be taken to Rohtak Hospital for her mental state.

“Eight accused have been arrested and one is absconding” and those held have “confessed to the crime,” Haryana state director-general of police Yash Pal Singal said. Those arrested include a local painter, carpenter and grocer.

An official said the autopsy found objects had been forced inside her during the attack. “I have never seen such a case of brutality,” local media quoted a forensic inspector as saying. India has faced intense scrutiny over its efforts to curb violence against women following the fatal gang rape of an Indian medical student in New Delhi in December 2012, which sparked a global outcry.

Published on: 11 February 2015  | The Kathmandu Post