Delhi call centre worker gang rape: Five jailed for life

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Women from India's North Eastern states hold placards during a peaceful protest against the rape of a girl from Mizoram, in New Delhi on November 29, 2010Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Delhi has one of the highest rates of crime against women in India

A court in India has sentenced five men to life in jail for the abduction and gang rape of a call centre worker.

The 30-year-old woman was attacked in the early hours after an office cab dropped her off near her home in 2010.

Her attackers abducted and raped her in a pick-up truck. A female colleague walking with her managed to escape.

Violence against Indian women is deeply entrenched. The 2012 gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi caused outrage and led to a change in the law.

Delhi - where hundreds of rapes are recorded every year - is often called the "rape capital of India", although the reporting of cases is going up all over the country.

The call centre worker and her colleague were from the north-eastern state of Mizoram. The case received a lot of publicity in India with students from north-eastern states participating in protest rallies in Delhi.

Twenty-five police teams were formed to find the rapists, sketches of suspects were released and more than 500 people were questioned. Several hundred pick-up vans were checked.

The five men were found guilty last week.

The crime forced call centres and other businesses to introduce new safety measures to protect women employees.