Delhi gang-rape victim dies in hospital in Singapore
29 December BBC
A female student gang raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi has
died at a Singapore hospital, doctors say. The patient passed away
peacefully at 4:45am on December 29, 2012," a statement from the
hospital said. The patient's family had been by her side, it added. The
23 Year Old had arrived in Singapore on Thursday after undergoing three
operations in a Delhi hospital.
The attack earlier this month triggered violent public protests in
India that left one police officer dead. Six men have been arrested and
two police officers have been suspended following the December 16
attack.The patient had remained in an extremely critical condition since
admission to Mount Elizabeth Hospital," a statement from hospital chief
executive Kelvin Loh said.She had suffered from severe organ failure
following serious injuries to her body and brain. She was courageous in
fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her
body was too severe for her to overcome," the statement went on.
"We are humbled by the privilege of being tasked to care for her in
her final struggle," Loh said.A team of eight specialists had tried to
keep the patient stable, but her condition continued to deteriorate over
the two days she was at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, he added.Officials
from the High Commission of India had also been present when the patient
passed away. The Indian home minister said the government had decided to
send the victim overseas on the recommendation of her doctors.
Arrangements are being made to take her body back to India, Indian
high commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan told reporters, according to
the Associated Press.
The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded
the bus in the Munirka area of Delhi, intending to travel to Dwarka in
the south-west of the city.Police said she was raped for nearly an hour,
and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars and thrown out
of the moving bus and into the street.On arrival at the hospital in
Singapore, doctors said that as well as a "prior cardiac arrest, she
also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant
brain injury".
The government has tried to halt rising public anger by announcing a
series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.
These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and
their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or
curtains.The government has also said that it will post the photos,
names and addresses of convicted rapists on official websites to shame
them.
It has set up two committees one looking into speeding up trials of
cases involving sexual assaults on women, and the other to examine the
lapses that might have led to the incident in Delhi.
But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences
for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death
penalty.Since the Delhi incident, several cases have been highlighted of
authorities failing to respond to reported rapes.On Wednesday, a woman
committed suicide in the state of Punjab, after having tried to report
to police an rape which allegedly took place last month, local media
reports said.
|