60-Year-Old Gang Raped; Suspects Rub Chili Powder-Like Substance On Her Genitals

A 60-year-old woman from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh alleged that she was gang-raped by four men in her village over the weekend and that her private parts were rubbed with a substance akin to chili powder after she refused to vacate her land.

The elderly woman was allegedly abducted in her sleep and dragged to a desolate area in the village of Kabrai in Mahoba district late Saturday before she was sexually assaulted, newspaper The Times of India reported.

She was also threatened with "dire consequences" if she ever spoke about the assault, according to the outlet.

The woman's family members discovered her lying unconscious in the fields and took her to the district hospital. She then delivered her statement to police from her hospital bed and named the alleged perpetrators, two of whom were identified as her neighbors Bharat Kushwaha and Sewa Lal.

"The duo had been constantly pressuring me to vacate the house and the land and assaulted me," the woman told Mahoba police superintendent Sudha Singh, according to the report.

Additionally, the men allegedly rubbed a chili powder-like substance on her private parts before they tied her hands and feet and dumped her in the bushes.

"In her statement, the rape survivor said the perpetrators rubbed a burning substance like chili in her private parts after the sexual assault," Singh said.

The officer added that a medical examination on the victim has been completed, and the medical report is pending.

Kushwaha and Lal have been arrested, and a search operation is underway to arrest the other suspects, who were not named.

The victim's identity was not revealed to protect her privacy in accordance with the Supreme Court's directives on cases related to sexual assaults.

A similar incident had allegedly occurred in India's West Bengal state in early May when an elderly woman said she was gang-raped in front of her 6-year-old grandchild inside her home.

The 60-year-old woman alleged that she was with her grandchild when five men from the state's ruling All India Trinamool Congress party barged into her home in Perba Medinipur and gang-raped her. She had allegedly been slapped, beaten, handcuffed and tied to a bed as the men sexually abused her.

The woman was admitted to a private hospital, where medical tests confirmed she had been raped.