Thirteen years after the gang rape of a woman on a bus in Delhi made global headlines, a new case of similar brutality has been reported from the northern state of Bihar. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Campaigners say the survivor's story also highlights the apathy from police and medical authorities that women facing sexual assault, especially in small towns and villages, routinely encounter in India.
Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
Indian law prohibits naming victims of sexual assault, so we are calling the survivor Soma (not her real name).
The 28-year-old mother of four young children told BBC Hindi that she was attacked in her own home and gang-raped by a group of men who allegedly inserted objects into her vagina.
The incident took place on the night of 11 June in a village in Begusarai, a district officially recognised as one of India's most socially and economically backward.
The case gained national attention after hospital officials confirmed she was assaulted with objects, which doctors removed. She also brought a bullet casing, which she said was one of the items used.
Giving details of the horrific assault, Soma said she was in the toilet outside her one-room home at night when five men barged in. The toilet does not have a door, only a curtain hangs over it.
"They stripped me, gagged me, and tied my hands. When I tried to fight back, they slashed my chest with a blade and raped me," she added.
Her husband initially dismissed her groans as noises made by a stray cat, but then grew suspicious and tried to check. "But the house was locked from the outside. He called a neighbour who came and unlocked the door and everyone saw my condition and began to cry."
Begusarai superintendent of police Maneesh (who uses only one name) told the BBC that Soma's "medical report has confirmed sexual assault".
"There are three named and two unidentified accused in this case. We have arrested two of them. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is conducting raids to arrest the others," he said.
Police say some of the accused have a previous history of crimes and have invoked sections dealing with gang rape against them.
On the night of her assault, Soma said she received little help from police or medical authorities. Her husband took her to a police station about 3 km from their home, but police refused to file a complaint and sent them away, advising him to take her to a doctor.
The police station head Rajiv Kumar has since been suspended for "negligence, apathy, and insensitivity". An FIR was registered on 13 June.
Soma and her husband say she also struggled to get proper medical attention. A private clinic turned them away, and a government health centre provided first aid before referring her to a district hospital.
Soma told the BBC the initial treatment was unsatisfactory. "The doctor asked me while administering an injection, 'Were you raped as well?' I kept telling her, 'Yes, Madam, I was'," she said.
Ashok Kumar, the Civil Surgeon of Begusarai, told the BBC that the woman was brought in with complaints of stomach pain, and they were informed of the gang rape only on 13 June, after which they conducted a medical examination.
The hospital sent Soma home, but she was back the next day after losing consciousness. She was discharged again a day later.
A village midwife warned that there was something inside her body. On the morning of 18 June, Soma showed her husband a bullet casing that had dropped out from her vagina. He then took her back to the hospital.