Two schoolgirls raped in northern India

NEW DELHI - The spate of rapes continues in India -- this time, two schoolgirls have been raped in two separate incidents in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh Tuesday night, a senior police officer said Wednesday.

"Four to five people gangraped a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Vikas Nagar on the outskirts of state capital Shimla. Two persons, including her classmate and a local cab driver have been arrested. Efforts are on to track down two to three other accused," he said, on condition of anonymity.

In another incident, a 16-year-old girl, who hailed from a village near Kufri to meet a relative at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla, was allegedly raped by a shopkeeper, the officer said, adding that the accused has been arrested.

Last year, the brutal and fatal gangrape of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in the Indian capital shocked the country and sparked massive protests, compelling the government to bring in strict laws against sexual offenders.

Four of the adult rapists were last month sentenced to death by a fast-track court while the main accused committed suicide in his prison cell during the trial. The sixth accused, being a minor, was asked to undergo three years in a reforms facility by a juvenile court.