Hundreds remember Latvian woman raped, killed in south India

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India – Friends and relatives gathered Sunday to remember the Latvian woman who police say was raped and murdered after she disappeared while being treated at a centre for traditional medicine in south India.

The 33-year-old woman, who was receiving traditional Ayurvedic treatment for depression in the state of Kerala, disappeared in mid-March. Her badly decomposed body was found April 21.

Police say two men lured the woman from a popular beach near the treatment centre, then drugged and raped her. They killed her when she resisted.

Both men have been arrested, police said, but the investigation is continuing to see if anyone else was involved in the attack.

Hundreds of people, including the woman’s sister, gathered Sunday in the city of Thiruvananthapuram to remember the victim and plant a tree in her memory.

“Dear sister, I know you are here. I know you are watching all of us. You are free and safe in (the) all-loving hands of God,” her sister said at the service. “We shall meet again when the time is right.”

Indian law prohibits identifying rape victims, including those who have been killed. Her sister’s name is also not being published, because it could identify her.