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Authorities in India were using CCTV footage to hunt a group of men who gang-raped an elderly nun at a convent in an attack that has intensified anger over sexual violence.
The assault on the 71-year-old was the latest in a string of high-profile rapes in India and came after a spate of attacks on churches that prompted Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promise a crackdown on religious violence.
The nun was attacked late on Friday after a gang of half a dozen robbers broke into a convent school in eastern West Bengal state and ransacked the premises, police said. The robbers gagged a security guard before assaulting the nun. They then entered the principal's room and stole cash, a laptop and a mobile phone, according to police.
Watch: Robbers 'gang-rape' elderly Indian nun, say police

Scores of angry students, their parents and teachers blocked a nearby highway and railroad tracks for several hours demanding swift police action leading to the arrest of the culprits.
Four of the six attackers have been identified through CCTV footage and a reward of 100,000 rupees (HK$12,500) is on offer for any leads on the suspects.
Five others have been detained for questioning, but a breakthrough has proved elusive so far.
Arnab Ghosh, a police superintendent who visited the convent near the town of Ranaghat, said the robbery appeared to have been carefully planned. "CCTV footage showed that six men, aged between 20 and 30, scaled the boundary wall around 11.40pm and entered the school and disconnected the telephone lines," he said.

Prayers were held yesterday in churches in West Bengal for the nun, who is recuperating at a hospital in Ranaghat, 70km from the state capital, Calcutta.
"In our Sunday mass, we prayed for the sister to recover quickly from trauma, fear and her physical injuries. We will pray for her again this evening," Thomas D'Souza, the archbishop of Kolkata, said.
"They not only committed a heinous crime, but they also vandalised the chapel... This is the first time such an attack has happened in India," he said.
Christian leaders in Calcutts said they were planning to hold a candlelight vigil today followed by a solidarity rally in support of the victim.
"We are shocked that a thing like this has happened in our state. We want the culprits to be arrested and brought to justice swiftly," Father Saroj Biswas said.
The gang-rape has added to the sense of fear and dismay among the country's Christian minority, which has been upset by recent attacks on churches.
Modi had been heavily criticised for not speaking out earlier against religious violence and has also faced flak for remaining silent about a spate of mass "re-conversions" of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.
"Even if you call it an isolated incident, the background and the atmosphere for such an attack had already been there, so you cannot simply ignore it as a one-off incident," Father Savarimuthu Sankar, a spokesman for the Delhi diocese, said.
The incident also added to a grim record of horrifying sexual assaults in India, which has banned a documentary about a December 2012 gang-rape that sparked domestic and international outrage.
Authorities said screening the documentary could have caused public disorder. But critics accused the government of being more concerned with the country's reputation than the safety of its women.
The gang-rape of a young physiotherapy student highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world's second most-populous country and has triggered a series of mass protests.
It led to a major reform of India's rape laws, speeding up trials and increasing penalties, although many campaigners say little has changed for women on the ground.
Days ago a mob of several thousand people broke into a high-security prison in northeastern India, dragged out a rape suspect and killed him in full public view.
Additional reporting by Reuters, Associated Press


Police use CCTV to hunt down nun's rape suspects

Students protest against the gang-rape of a nun, who tried to prevent her attackers from robbing her convent. Photo: AP

Some of the six attackers who allegedly gang-raped the elderly nun are seen here through CCTV footage. Photo: SCMP

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Prayers said for 71-year-old woman attacked by a gang of robbers at her convent in latest in series of high-profile assaults in the country


Authorities in India were using CCTV footage to hunt a group of men who gang-raped an elderly nun at a convent in an attack that has intensified anger over sexual violence.


Police use CCTV to hunt down nun's rape suspects

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Prayers said for 71-year-old woman attacked by a gang of robbers at her convent in latest in series of high-profile assaults in the country

Prayers said for 71-year-old woman attacked by a gang of robbers at her convent in latest in series of high-profile assaults in the country