Six arrested after another gang rape on Indian bus

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus going to her Punjab village on Friday night when the bus driver refused to take her home.

He and the conductor instead took her to a remote location where they were joined by five friends who took it turns to rape the woman, Mr Singh said.

The driver then dropped the woman off at her village early on Saturday. Six of the men were arrested today and police said they were still searcing for the seventh.

All six apparently admitted involvement in the rape and the woman was recovering at home.

It comes a month after a 23-year-old student was brutally raped in New Delhi, dying from her wounds two weeks later.

The assault sparked off furious protests in India and across the world over police indifference to violence against women.

In her first published comments the woman's mother said today: "Now the only thing that will satisfy us is to see them punished. For what they did to her, they deserve to die."

Also on Saturday, police arrested a man for allegedly raping and killing a nine-year-old girl two weeks ago in western India.

Police said the man committed the crime after being released from prison after nine years for the rape and murder of a girl in 2003.