A young woman photojournalist has been gang raped while her male colleague was tied up and beaten in India's business hub of Mumbai, police said, according to Belfast Telegraph.

The case was reminiscent of the December gang rape of a young university student in the Indian capital.

Police said the woman was on assignment to take pictures of an abandoned textile factory in south Mumbai late Thursday, August 22 when five men confronted her, and offered to help her get permission to shoot inside the building.

Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh told reporters that the men tied her colleague's hands with a belt while she was gang raped. The woman, reported to be in her early 20s, is in a stable condition in hospital.

The assault comes amid heightened concerns about sexual violence in India.