An elderly nun in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal was gang-raped Saturday by a group of men after she tried to stop them from robbing a missionary school.
Police said the six men entered the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Ranaghat, about 80 kilometers northeast of Kolkata, the state capital, early in the day. None of the attackers has been arrested.
The nun, said to be in her 70s, was hospitalized in serious condition.
Scores of angry students, their parents and teachers blocked a nearby highway and railroad tracks for several hours, demanding swift police action leading to the arrest of the culprits.
The attack came at a time of growing concern about sexual violence against women in India.
This month, India prohibited the release of the film "India's Daughter," based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman, and also asked video-sharing website YouTube to remove all links to the documentary.
The Indian government said it was banning the film on the ground it could fuel public anger because it includes an interview with Mukesh Singh, one of six men who raped the physiotherapy student.
In the film, Singh told a BBC filmmaker that “a girl is far more responsible for rape than a man.”
Days after the ban, thousands of people stormed a high-security prison in northeastern India, dragged out a rape suspect and beat him to death.
