CNN reports that a gang of robbers targeted a Christian school in eastern India on Saturday, and one sexually assaulted a 70-year-old nun, a senior official said. Eight men have been detained in the wake of the attack.

A group of seven to eight men allegedly swarmed the school and its attached staff residence during the early-morning hours, and the elderly Sister Superior sounded an alarm and resisted, said P.B. Salim, a senior official of the West Bengal state’s Nadia district. The rape was apparently punishment for her fighting back.

Later, the men tied up the Sister Superior along with two other nuns and the building guard. The robbers then took off with several hundred thousand rupees in cash (the US equivalent of thousands of dollars), laptops and other articles.

The attacked nun is currently receiving medical care. “Physically, she is better. But the mental trauma will take its own time to heal,” Salim said.

“It is a very, very shameful act, first of all, to rape any woman, any female,” said Father Dominic Emmanuel of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese in televised comments. “But this one becomes even worse because, first of all, she is an old lady and then on top of it, she is a nun. She is a religious [and] has consecrated her life to God and all her life she has remained a virgin.”

India has come under sharp global criticism after several of its female citizens and tourists have suffered sexual assaults and brutal gang-rapes, one such atrocity resulting in the death of a young student who was raped on a bus by five men in 2012. Crowds have gathered en masse in the streets in protest of rape.

Lawmakers have enforced tougher laws and punishments for sexual crimes and harassment; however, India continues to be plagued by these episodes.

In January, five men were arrested in Kolkata for raping a Japanese tourist. Police said the men operated as a group and specifically targeted tourists from Japan. In December, an Uber driver was charged with sexually assaulting a passenger.

Anti-rape activists were chagrined when the Indian government blocked the showing of a BBC documentary about rape that included comments from one of those men. He provoked outrage around the world by saying the woman “should just be silent and allow the rape.”

Experts speculate that factors contributing to the high number of rapes include the nation’s patriarchy, far-reaching poverty and a dearth of law enforcement in rural areas.