Jaipur, Sept. 4: Three persons were today sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping a Japanese woman in possibly Rajasthan's first conviction for assault on a tourist under the amended rape law.

Ajit Singh Choudhary, 25, had introduced himself as a guide and taken the 20-year-old woman to an isolated spot far from Jaipur, where he and the others raped her on February 9 this year.

A fast-track court found Ajit and his accomplices, Abdul Wahid and Abrar, guilty under Section 376 (D) of the Indian Penal Code, which was amended after the December 2012 gang rape of a paramedic on a Delhi bus. Under the amended law, the minimum punishment for gang rape is 20 years in jail. Earlier, the minimum punishment was 10 years in jail.

The Japanese tourist was touring Jal Mahal, a scenic palace in Jaipur, when Ajit approached her posing as a guide. Fluent in English, he befriended her and offered to show more spots, after which she agreed to accompany him on his bike.

They first visited Galtaji, a site 10km away that is home to many ancient temples and ponds. From there, Ajit took her to Mozamabad, a hamlet 70km from Jaipur, where he and the others drugged and raped her. They fled after the assault and were caught several days later.

When she came to, the woman went to a nearby police station and lodged a complaint. She also said her iPhone and around Rs 4,000 were missing.

Six others were charged with helping or harbouring the trio. Three were sentenced to two years under another section. The remaining three were acquitted.

Several such assaults have occurred earlier in Rajasthan, a favourite holiday destination for foreign tourists. Their number was 1.53 million in 2014, up from 1.43 million the previous year.

Another Japanese lady was raped in 2006 by the owner of a guesthouse. He was sentenced to seven years. The same year, Bitti Mohanty, the son of a top Odisha police officer, raped a German research scholar. He was sentenced to seven years but jumped parole and was arrested years later from Kerala, working in disguise as a bank technician. In 2005, a 47-year-old German was kidnapped and raped by two auto-rickshaw drivers in Jodhpur. The accused were handed a life term.