Three arrested for rape of US woman in India

DHARAMSALA, India - Police arrested three men on Thursday accused of raping a 30-year-old American woman in a hill resort in northern India, in a case that has thrown fresh scrutiny on the high rate of sex crimes against women in the country.

The woman, who has not been identified, was picked up by three men in a truck on Monday night while hitch-hiking back to her guest house in the town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh after spending an evening with friends, police said. She had been unable to find a taxi to take her home.

The suspects, who are all in their early twenties, are being interrogated by police and their truck has been seized, a police statement said.

The woman told police her attackers took her to an isolated area instead of driving to her hotel, and then raped her.

The case is another in a string of sexual crimes against women that has drawn national attention in a country where a rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.

The brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian woman on a bus on December 16 in New Delhi sparked a global outcry and brought thousands of people onto the streets of India in protest, demanding better policing to prevent sex crimes. The trainee physiotherapist later died from her injuries.