Police in India are hunting a group of raiders who gang-raped a nun in her early 70s when she tried to prevent them from robbing a Christian missionary school in eastern India.

 

The nun was admitted to hospital in a serious condition after being attacked by seven or eight men at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Nadia district, 50 miles north east of the West Bengal state capital of Kolkata.

Police are searching for the men who escaped after the attack.

The robbers tied up the school's security guards with ropes and entered the nuns' room, where the women were sleeping. They took one of the nuns to another room when she tried to block their way and then raped her, a police officer said.

The woman who was attacked is the oldest nun at the school.

The men escaped with some cash, a mobile phone, a laptop computer and a camera, all belonging to the school. They also ransacked the school's chapel and holy items.

Scores of angry students, their parents and teachers blocked a nearby road and rail tracks for several hours demanding swift police action.