india rape
© RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty ImagesIndian protesters shout anti-government slogans during a protest against rape in New Delhi on January 2, 2013.
Three men were convicted Tuesday in the gang rape of an American tourist in India.

All Nepali men in their 20s, they were convicted of sexual assault and robbery, police said. They were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Officially, they were sentenced to 20 years each for sexual assault and five years for robbery, but the sentences will run concurrently.

The men will also have to pay about $250 each in fines.
Fighting sexual harassment in India.The incident took place in June in the Indian mountain state of Himachal Pradesh.

The men were accused of raping and robbing the American woman, who had sought a lift from them in their small truck, Vinod Kumar Dhawan, the state's police superintendent, told CNN.


The woman, 31, was on her way back to a popular tourist destination when she got into the truck around 1 a.m. The men pleaded not guilty, Dhawan said.

Several high-profile cases have drawn attention to sexual violence against women in India.

In September, an Indian court sentenced four men to death for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi. A 17-year-old boy was also sentenced to three years in prison for murder, rape and robbery in the attack.