Cops nab five culprits in vicious Mumbai gang-rape

The Mumbai police today said they have arrested all five men responsible for raping a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mahalaxmi/ Lower Parel and beating up her colleague while they were on an assignment.

As many as 12 police teams fanned the city throughout the night in a search to apprehend the suspects.

The victim had given the police detailed images of all the suspects, and had even named two of them.

Meanwhile, the Jaslok Hospital, where the victim is currently receiving treatment, said she was currently stable. In a statement, it also requested journalists and TV crews to avoid crowding the hospital entrance, as this was hampering smooth service to patients.

The incident occurred late on Thursday evening, when the young woman photojournalist was gang-raped while her male colleague was tied up and beaten. The case was eerily reminiscent of the December gang-rape and death of a medical student in New Delhi.

Police said the woman was on assignment to take pictures of an abandoned textile factory, Shakti Mills near Famous Studio, when five men confronted her with an offer to help her get permission to shoot inside the building.

Police commissioner Satyapal Singh told reporters that the men tied her colleague's hands with a belt while she was gang raped.

The assault comes amid heightened concerns about sexual violence in India. The gang rape and death of the student on a bus in New Delhi in December had shaken a country long inured to violence against women and sparked protests demanding better protection for women.

In response, the government passed a new stringent law increasing prison terms for rape and making voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women punishable under criminal law.

 Singh said the area where the attack took place was very isolated and the men may have been local drug dealers.

The incident also comes five days after an American national was assaulted with a blade in an empty first-class ladies compartment of a local train between Marine Lines and Charni Road stations.

State home minister R R Patil said the government had taken a very serious note of the incident and will do everything to nab the culprits.

In a statement given to police, the girl said the five goons were present in the Shakti Mills compound. They started making lewd remarks and harassed her. When her friend intervened, two of them assaulted him. Three others took the woman inside the dilapidated structure and raped her.

Earlier this week, American national Michelle Marks, 25, who was in India to work with an NGO, was travelling alone in the ladies compartment of a local when a man got in and tried to snatch her iPhone. When she resisted, he attacked her with a blade.

Recently, a post by an American student, describing how she was ''stalked and groped'' during her stay in India went viral on social networking sites. She said on her return, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is now on leave from school after a public breakdown.