Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday pledged to take action to protect the nation’s women while the young victim of a gang rape on a New Delhi bus was flown to Singapore for treatment of severe internal injuries.
The Dec. 16 rape and brutal beating of the 23-year-old student triggered widespread protests in New Delhi and other parts of India demanding a government crackdown on the daily harassment Indian women face, ranging from groping to severe violence. Some protesters have called for the death penalty or castration for rapists, who under current laws face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Rape victims rarely press charges because of social stigma and fear they will be accused of inviting the attack. Many women say they structure their lives around protecting themselves and their daughters from attack.
Photo: AFP
Singh’s government set up two committees in response to the protests. One, looking into speeding up sexual assault trials, has already received 6,100 e-mail suggestions. The second will examine what lapses might have contributed to the rape — which took place on a moving bus that passed through police checkpoints — and suggest measures to improve women’s safety.
“Let me state categorically that the issue of safety and security of women is of the highest concern to our government,” Singh told a development meeting.
He urged officials in India’s states to pay special attention to the problem.
“There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population, and this participation simply cannot take place if their security and safety is not assured,” he said.
The victim of the gang rape arrived in Singapore on an air ambulance yesterday and was admitted in “extremely critical condition, to the intensive care unit” of the Mount Elizabeth hospital, renowned for multi-organ transplant facilities, the hospital said in a statement.
Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in a statement that the government, which is overseeing her treatment and paying the costs, had decided to send her abroad on the recommendation of her doctors here.
“Despite the best efforts of our doctors, the victim continues to be critical and her fluctuating health remains a big cause of concern to all of us,” he said.
Her family was also being sent to Singapore to be with her during her treatment, which could last weeks, he said.
Meanwhile, police in riot gear manning barricades filled the streets of central Delhi in a show of force ahead of another planned protest march. Near daily protests have shut down the center of the capital for days since the rape. Police quelled some of the demonstrations with tear gas, water cannons and baton charges.
One police officer died on Tuesday after collapsing during a weekend protest. Police said an autopsy showed the officer had a heart attack that could have been caused by injuries suffered during violence at the protest. A journalist at the scene said the officer was running toward the protesters with a group of police when he collapsed on the ground and began frothing at the mouth and shaking. Two protesters rushed to the officer to try to help him. Police charged eight people with murder in the death of the policeman.
Police said the rape victim was traveling on the evening of Dec. 16 with a male friend on a bus when they were attacked by six men who gang raped her and beat the couple with iron rods before stripping them and dumping them on a road. All six suspects in the case have been arrested, police said.
B.D. Athani, the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, where the woman had been treated, said she suffered severe intestinal and abdominal injuries, underwent three surgeries and had parts of her intestines removed, according to the Press Trust of India.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in