Three men gang-rape woman after gagging and tying her husband to a tree

Three men allegedly gang-raped a 27-year-old woman in front of her husband, who was gagged and tied to a tree, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

The incident took place in the Badaun district of the state on the evening of Monday (22 May) when the woman was returning home from a health clinic along with her husband.

The region's circle officer of police Sheoraj Singh said that the accused stopped their motorcycle, tied the husband up and then raped the woman.

Based on a complaint by the woman's husband, an FIR (First Information Report) has been filed against the trio who hail from a nearby village.

The woman has been sent for a medical examination. Efforts are on to nab the culprits, the police officer said.

Earlier, on 4 May, eight men allegedly raped a woman in a vehicle after tying her husband. That incident, which was also reported from Uttar Pradesh, took place when the couple were coming back from a neighbouring town where they work as artisans.

In that case, the woman and her husband were offered a lift by the driver of a loader van after they alighted at a railway station. Later, the driver stopped the van at a roadside liquor shop from where other men boarded the vehicle. The van was then driven to a deserted area where the men tied the husband up and took turns raping the woman in front of him.

Both the incidents follow on the heels of India's Supreme Court upholding the death penalty for four 2012 Delhi gang rape convicts found guilty of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old who later died from her injuries.