Indian woman gang raped by two gangs

Ten people have been arrested after two apparently unrelated gangs raped a 21-year-old woman on Christmas Eve in Karaikel, India.

Initial investigations said while the woman was visiting her friends, she was briefly left alone after her friends went into a house. She was then abducted by three men and raped by one of them.

"One among a group of three people sexually assaulted the woman,"  Senior Superintendent of Police Monika Bharadwaj said.

She then found her friends after her ordeal, only to be waylaid by another group of men who singled her out and gang-raped her according to the police.

"When they were going back they were confronted by a second group, who again picked up the victim and sexually assaulted her six times."

According to police, the victim did not know the attackers and these appear to be unrelated attacks.

The woman was taken to hospital where she was treated for her injuries and is said to be in a stable condition.

The gang rape comes just days before India marks the first anniversary of the death of the student whose gang-rape on a bus in Delhi sparked unprecedented public outrage, leading to changes in India's laws against sexual violence.