India court has handed down life sentences to six men over the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist

A court in India has handed down life sentences to six men over the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist who was on a cycling trip with her husband in the South Asian country.

The gang attacked the couple in a thick area of forest in the Datia district in impoverished Madhya Pradesh state on March 15, and sexually assaulted the 39-year-old woman.

The men, aged between 22 and 30, were all from a village near the scene of the rape. They received their sentences on Saturday.

“All the accused have been convicted and we are satisfied with the judgment,” prosecutor Rajendra Tiwari said.

Days after the assault on the Swiss tourist, laws were changed in India to contain stricter punishments for rapists, including the death penalty.

The assault came months after a 23-year-old Indian woman was gang-raped and savagely beaten on a moving bus and thrown out on to the street in New Delhi on December 16, 2012. She succumbed to her injuries in a hospital in Singapore on December 29.

The horrific nature of the crime shocked Indians and sparked mass protests across the country.

Five males were arrested and put on trial for the gang-rape, murder and robbery among other charges after the attack. However, one of them died while in prison from a suspected suicide in March.