India arrests after gang rape victim assaulted 'by same men'

Members of the Dalit community have protested against the assault on the woman

Three men have been arrested in the town of Rohtak in India, accused of gang raping a woman for the second time in three years.

Police said two other men would be arrested "soon".

The 21-year-old student had been pursuing a case in court against the five men, when she was attacked and left for dead last week.

She said she was forced inside a car and the men tried to strangle her. A passerby later took her to hospital.

The woman, who is from a poor low-caste Dalit (formerly known as untouchables) family, was first assaulted in 2013 in Bhiwani town.

Her family has alleged that they had moved to Rohtak after they were threatened by the accused who have been out on bail.

Laws tightened

"I was leaving the college when I saw them. They were the same five men. I was very afraid," the woman told a TV channel.

"They forced me inside the car. They tried to strangulate me. They said they would kill my father and brother."

Nearly four years ago, a 23-year-old woman was brutally raped by multiple men and murdered on a bus in Delhi, causing global outrage.

Tougher laws on sexual violence were introduced the year after, including a new death sentence if a person was convicted of rape a second time.

But correspondents in India say questions are being asked about how five men who were accused of a serious sexual crime could have been free to conduct another attack.