Indian businessman arrested in rape of Irish woman

KOLKATA, India— Police said Wednesday they have arrested a man accused of raping an Irish woman who volunteered at a children’s charity in the Indian city of Kolkata.

The local businessman who was arrested will be produced in court later Wednesday, according to a police official, who said he could not be named because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

The man attended a party the woman hosted to celebrate her 21st birthday late Friday, the official said. She later went to the man’s house where she drank a cup of tea and passed out, then she was raped, the official said.

Few other details were immediately available.

The reported assault comes as other attacks against women have heightened concerns about sexual violence in India.

On Tuesday, police reported that an American tourist was gang-raped in the northern Indian resort town of Manali. Three men picked her up in a truck while she was hitchhiking, then drove to a secluded spot and raped her, police officer Sher Singh said.

No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, Singh said.

In March, six men were arrested in the gang-rape of a Swiss cyclist, and a British hotel guest jumped from a third-floor window fearing a sexual attack when the hotel owner tried to force his way into her room.

The fatal gang-rape of an Indian student in New Delhi in December sparked protests demanding better protection for women. The government in response passed a law increasing prison terms for rape and making voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women punishable under criminal law.