The investigation continues to progress, four days after this gang rape which greatly affected public opinion in India, but also abroad.
Indian police have arrested five other men in connection with the gang rape of a Spanish tourist, making a total of eight people, local media reported on Tuesday.
Also read: Rape in India: “I thought they were going to kill me”, what we know about the Spanish influencer couple attacked
The attack against Fernanda, who was on a motorcycle trip with her husband, Vicente, who runs the Instagram account “Vuelta al mundo en moto” (“Tour the world on a motorcycle”), occurred last week in the State of Jharkhand, in eastern India, where the couple was camping.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency broadcast images of five suspects, handcuffed and tied to each other by a rope.
On Monday, three other men appeared in court and were taken into custody.
“Eight arrests have been made so far in connection with the alleged gang rape of a Spanish woman,” PTI reported, citing police officers.
A check for 12,000 euros in compensation
Authorities handed the couple a check for $12,000 as part of a “victim compensation program,” NDTV reported.
On average, nearly 90 rapes per day were recorded in India in 2022, according to official data.
VIDEO.
A Spanish tourist recounts her ordeal in India
However, a large number of cases go unreported due to the stigma surrounding victims and a lack of confidence in police investigations.
Convictions remain rare, with cases stalled for years due to the country's overcrowded justice system.
Also read “I was freaking out all the time”: after the rape of a tourist, India faces the scourge of violence against women
The gang rape and murder of an Indian student made international headlines in December 2012. Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped and left for dead by five men and a teenager on a bus in New Delhi.
The crime drew international attention to high levels of sexual violence in India and introduced the death penalty for rape into law.