NEW DELHI: A 20-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped on Christmas Eve in south India, media reports said Friday, the latest in a string of sexual attacks reported in the country.

The reports of the latest assault came two days before India was due to  mark the first anniversary of the death of a student who was gangraped on a bus  in an attack that shocked the nation.

The woman who was assaulted on Christmas Eve told police she was abducted  by three men while sightseeing with friends in Karaikal, a port city in  Puducherry, the Times of India newspaper and TV networks reported.

One of the men raped her at a secluded spot before freeing her, the Times  said.

She called for help but then another group of seven men attacked her as she  was being escorted to a safe place, the paper said.

Six of the men raped her, it added.

“One case has been reported. There are 15 accused (persons) and one  victim,” senior police officer Monika Bhardwaj told reporters.

Bhardwaj said three of the accused “are absconding” while the rest have  been caught.

The Times of India said police had registered preliminary cases of  abduction, gang-rape and criminal intimidation against the accused.

The woman has been admitted to hospital where police will record her  statement, the CNN-IBN TV network reported.

The issue of sex crimes in India has received widespread attention since  last year’s gang rape of the 23-year-old student in New Delhi.

The physiotherapy student died on December 29, nearly two weeks after being  attacked by a gang of six men on a moving bus as she returned home from the  cinema with a male companion.

The brutality of the attack and her subsequent death shook the country and  shone a global spotlight on India’s widespread mistreatment of women.

The attack also prompted the Indian parliament to pass tougher laws against  rapists and other sex-crime offenders.

But a string of other sex attacks, including against foreign tourists and a  photojournalist in Mumbai this year, has highlighted the continuing dangers  facing women in India.