A 23-year-old woman was attacked by three people in western India who beat her with iron rods and slashed her with a knife after she refused to enter the flesh trade, police and news reports said Sunday.

The incident took place in Maharashtra state's Thane district Friday. Police said the woman who was brought from the neighbouring state of Gujarat for prostitution but when she refused to comply, the female brothel owner and two of her male associates the 23-year-old.

She sustained serious injuries.

"They slashed her breast with a blade and beat her badly. She is hospitalized but out of danger," area police official Namdev Rode said. Local media reports said several of her teeth were broken in the attack.

The police arrested one of the accused. Attacks on women and sexual violence have been a focus of public attention in India since the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012 triggered mass protests.