A woman in her 40s was allegedly gang-raped after police quarantined her in a school overnight in India.
The victim had initially been sent to the educational setting in the state of Rajasthan after getting lost.
Police said three men have been arrested in connection with the incident and a junior police officer had been suspended for negligence.
The news comes after tens of thousands of Indian workers who lost their jobs in cities due to the pandemic, walked for days in a desperate bid to reach their homes in rural locations. Many of them are now in overcrowded quarantine centres and authorities are struggling to cope.
The victim, who was described as a "daily wage earner" sought shelter at a police station last week after walking alone for miles and losing the way to her native village.
In the absence of a quarantine centre, local police housed her for the night in a school building, where she was allegedly raped.
Deputy Superintendent, Parth Sharma, said Sawai Madhopur police launched an investigation.
He added: “Three local men who raped the woman inside the school on April 23 have been arrested and sent to jail."
Deputy Superintendent Sharma said the woman had subsequently been sent to a local quarantine facility to get tested for Covid-19 and added: “We don’t know how long she was on her own for, and who she came into contact with, and her test results are not yet known."
He said a police officer had been suspended over alleged negligence in connection with the case.
The nationwide lockdown in India was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month and so far it has reported 26,496 cases of coronavirus, and 824 deaths.
Experts fear that the world’s biggest lockdown, restricting a population of 1.3 billion people, has not been able to reduce the spread of Covid-19, and the country has begun to see a surge in cases with testing being ramped up.
Despite stringent laws, rape occurs every 20 minutes, on average, according to federal crime data.
