A WOMAN was raped, forced to drink acid then dragged to her death in yet another sickening assault — just days after the murder of two cousins once again put the spotlight on India’s epidemic of sexual violence.

Yet even as Westerners and parts of Indian society condemned the ongoing horror, the reality on the gorund was quite different: women protesting the issue were driven back by water cannon and police, among them a number of female officers.

In the latest incident, The Times of India cites a post-mortem report of the death of a 20-year-old woman whose naked body was found lying disfigured in a field in the district of Baheri, Uttar Pradesh state, at the weekend.

The autopsy report says the victim had been tied and dragged over the ground with a plastic rope which had strangled her. Her face had been heavily disfigured by acid and her identity is yet to be determined.

Police say they believe up to five men may have been involved in the attack, but that there is no evidence as yet of gang rape. No suspects have yet been identified.

The attack has shocked the Bareilly region already reeling after recent attacks, with demonstrations spurred by the lack of information and arrests.

The acid-burned body was found just days after another attack which saw two teen girls raped and murdered. The cousins, aged 14 and 15, were left hanging from a mango tree.

Police yesterday used water cannons to disperse hundreds of women who were protesting against the rise in violence against women in the northern Indian state.

The protesters in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, were demonstrating outside the office of the top elected official, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, demanding that he crack down on an increasing number of rape and other attacks on women and girls.

Hundreds of police officers, including female officers, pushed and shoved the protesters before deploying water cannons to disperse them.

The protesters also demanded that the government curb police indifference, which they said was encouraging attacks on women.

Police failed to take any action when the father of one of the girls reported to police that the two cousins were missing. Two police officers were fired for dereliction of duty after the girls were found gang-raped and killed.

One of their fathers said police took more than 12 hours to respond to his report that the girls were missing. He said if the police had acted promptly, they could have been rescued.

Yadav has recommended a federal inquiry, but his government has been widely accused of a lackadaisical approach toward women’s safety.

India has a long history of tolerance of sexual violence, but the attack on the girls has caused outrage across the nation.

Activists and ordinary people said it was as if nothing had changed since the December 2012 fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman aboard a moving bus in New Delhi, India’s capital.

The nationwide outcry following that attack led the federal government to push through legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalising voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to register cases when complaints are made.