Kerala rape and murder of Dalit student: Rahul Gandhi mourns

"Deeply saddened & pained to learn of the brutal rape and murder of a law student in Perumbavoor, Kerala," Office of RG tweeted.

"Spoke to PCC President Sudheeranji about the incident, Kerala Govt will take swift action to bring the guilty to book," read another tweet posted by the official Twitter handle of Gandhi.

Kerala Police have detained three people for questioning in the Dalit law student rape and murder case, media reports said on Tuesday.

The incident  reportedly took place on Apr 28 in Kerala's Ernakulam district.

As gruesome details of the rape and murder spill out -- the girl's body bore 30 marks of stabbing and her intestines pulled out -- and the police await the post mortem report, most people are drawing a parallel with the Nirbhaya case -- the gang rape of a Delhi student in a moving bus in 2012.

Kerala is witnessing protests over the incident on Tuesday with demonstrators  raising concerns about women’s safety in the state.

The murder of the law student brings back memories of the Delhi gangrape and murder incident of 2012.

On Dec 16, 2012, six people gangraped and brutalised the 23-year-old Delhi Braveheart or Nirbhaya with an iron rod on a moving bus in New Delhi. The victim succumbed to her injuries at a Singapore hospital on Dec 29.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage against rising cases of crime against women in India with people pouring into the streets of New Delhi for days and demanding a change of law and strict punishment of the accused.