A Spanish woman, who was on a tour with her husband, was allegedly gang-raped by a group of men on Friday night at a forest in Jharkhand’s Dumka district, police said.

Dumka police said the incident took place at a deserted place in Kurumahat village under Hansdiha police station, some 42km from Dumka district headquarters when some anti-social elements sexually assaulted a Spanish woman who was sleeping in a makeshift tent along with her husband.

“The Spanish woman and her husband were spotted by our police patrolling unit at around 10pm and rushed to a nearby community health centre for medical treatment. She said they were on two bikes and were going from Bengal to Nepal via Dumka and Bihar and had entered Dumka around 5pm and put up their tent at Kurumahat for a night stay,” Dumka SP Pitamber Singh Kherwar said.

Dumka district administration will write to the Union ministry of home affairs to inform the local district administration about the arrival of foreign nationals so that it is prepared to provide security to overseas tourists and prevent the recurrence of the Friday night incident.

“It is a shameful and dastardly act, which has disgraced the district, state and the country. We have arrested three persons who have confessed to their crime and the remaining culprits have been identified and a special investigation team (SIT) led by a deputy superintendent of police rank officer was conducting raids and they will be behind bars very soon. We will go for speedy trial in a fast track court to provide justice to the traumatised woman,” said Dumka SP.

The police official also said the foreign nationals had not intimated the district administration.

Jharkhand director general of police Ajay Kumar Singh said that directives have been issued to the district police to undertake all scientific investigation tools to ensure that culprits are punished severely as per laws.

Dumka deputy commissioner Anjaneyulu Dodde said that it is the norm for any foreign national coming to the district to inform the administration.

“The incident is very unfortunate. The place where the foreign tourists had put up a tent on Friday night was a desolate remote place and none of the administration officials were even aware of their stay. We would be writing to the Union home ministry to inform the district or state administration about the visit of foreign nationals so that we can provide them security in future,” said Dodde.

The police official said the youths were under the influence of drugs and had looted cash of Rs 10,000 and a gold ring from the woman.

Dumka civil surgeon, Dr B.P Singh said that a six-member medical team comprising three gynaecologists, a dentist, a radiologist and an orthopaedic conducted a medical examination of the duo.

“They are stable. The woman aged 28 years has been gang-raped and the man aged 64 has suffered external injuries,” said Dr Singh.