Indian police charged six men with murder after a 23-year-old woman they are accused of raping died in a Singapore hospital, prompting thousands of citizens in the world's second-most populous nation to mourn her death.
The trial of the six, who allegedly assaulted the physiotherapy student in the back of a bus on Dec. 16, will start after police file charge documents on Jan. 3, Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said by phone today.
An Air India plane brought the woman's body back from Singapore and it was cremated today, the Press Trust of India reported. Demonstrators gathered at the Jantar Mantar, an 18th- century observatory and traditional rallying point, demanding speedy punishment for the alleged rapists while some held placards calling for them to receive the death penalty.
Thousands joined protests and candlelit vigils to mark the death yesterday. Some protesters held placards calling for the improved treatment of women in India as they congregated in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Others braved the cold winter's evening in New Delhi to carry candles or meet in quiet prayer.
The victim, attacked in a moving bus, "passed away peacefully" early on Dec. 29, with her family and officials from the High Commission of India at her side, according to a statement from Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. She had suffered "serious injuries to her body and brain," he said.
Protests Allowed
Some roads will continue to be barricaded and some subway stations in New Delhi remain shut to prevent demonstrations in the city's central area, Bhagat said. Protests are permitted at Jantar Mantar, and the Ram Lila grounds, a site used for religious ceremonies and meetings outside the city's Red Fort, Bhagat said.
"We have already seen the emotions and energies this incident has generated," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. "It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channel these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action," he said. It's up to all Indians to "ensure that her death will not have been in vain."
Singh has appointed a retired Delhi High Court judge to investigate the crime and fix lapses in policing. He also pledged to consider tougher penalties for sex crimes after the assault prompted street demonstrations organized through social- media postings. The protesters, who fought water cannons and tear gas on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, demanded more be done to protect women in the capital and across India.
"The need of the hour is a dispassionate debate and inquiry into the critical changes that are required in societal attitudes," Singh said in his statement.
Unauthorized Bus
After tricking the woman and her 28-year-old male friend into boarding the unauthorized chartered bus with dark, tinted windows and heavy curtains, the crew of the vehicle and accomplices assaulted the two over a period of about 45 minutes, stripped them and then threw them out.
The woman, whose name can't be revealed under Indian laws, was flown to Singapore for specialist treatment, paid for by the Indian government.
The increased public role of women "is accompanied by growing threats to their safety and security," the prime minister said on Dec. 27. "We must reflect on this problem, which occurs in all states and regions of our country."
Data provided by India's National Crime Records Bureau show about 24,200 cases of rape and 228,650 cases of crimes against women were reported in 2011. United Nations figures show 1.8 cases of rape for every 100,000 in India, compared with 63 in Sweden, 29 in the U.K. and 27 in the U.S. Most instances of rape go unreported in India.
Swift Prosecution
Singh has vowed to hasten prosecution of the accused. The panel led by the former chief justice of the Supreme Court has been asked to rewrite criminal codes to allow harsher penalties to be imposed, including capital punishment in the "rarest of rare" rape cases.
It typically takes years for ordinary Indians to get justice because of a slow-moving legal process and overburdened courts. Long-running trials and lax enforcement of laws have also fueled protests in the nation's capital. About 63,342 cases were pending in the Supreme Court as of July 31, of which 67 percent have been on the roll for more than a year, government data show.
Before last month's execution of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani gunman involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India last carried out the death penalty in 2004, when a convict was hanged 14 years after he raped and murdered a school girl.
India has about 15 judges for each million of its 1.2 billion people, according to UN data. In China, there are about 159 judges for each million people, while in the U.S. the figure is about 108.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; Siddharth Philip in Mumbai at sphilip3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Hari Govind at hgovind@bloomberg.net
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario