Indian gang-rape victim dies in Singapore hospital
SINGAPORE (AP) — A young Indian woman who was gang-raped and severely beaten on a bus died Saturday at a Singapore hospital, after her horrific ordeal galvanized Indians to demand greater protection for women from sexual violence that impacts thousands of them every day.
She "passed away peacefully" with her family and officials of the Indian Embassy by her side, Dr. Kevin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth hospital, said in a statement.
After 10 days at a hospital in the Indian capital of New Delhi, where the attack occurred, the victim was brought Thursday to Mount Elizabeth hospital, which specializes in multi-organ transplant. Loh said the woman had remained in extremely critical condition since Thursday, and by late Friday her condition had taken a turn for the worse and her vital signs had deteriorated.
"Despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists in Mount Elizabeth Hospital to keep her stable, her condition continued to deteriorate over these two days," 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 woman and a male friend, who have not been identified, were traveling on a bus in New Delhi after watching a film on the evening of Dec. 16 when they were attacked by six men who raped her. The men also beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman's body, resulting in severe organ damage. Both were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.
Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries, a lung infection and brain damage. She also suffered from a heart attack while in the hospital in India.
Indian High Commissioner, or ambassador, T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters that the scale of the injuries she suffered was "very grave" and in the end "proved too much."
He said arrangements were being made to take her body back to India.
The frightening nature of the crime shocked Indians, who have come out in the thousands for almost daily demonstrations. Indian television channels said security had been tightened in New Delhi on Sunday in anticipation of more protests following the woman's death.
The protesters are demanding stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. Women face daily harassment across India, ranging from catcalls on the streets, groping and touching in public transport to rape.
The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, which forces them to keep quiet and not report it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Also, police often refuse to accept complaints from those who are courageous enough to report the rapes, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts drag on for years.
Indian attitudes toward rape are so entrenched that even politicians and opinion makers have often suggested that women should not go out at night or wear clothes that might be seen provocative.
On Friday, Abhijit Mukherjee, a national lawmaker and the son of India's president, apologized for calling the protesters "highly dented and painted" women who go from discos to demonstrations.
"I tender my unconditional apology to all the people whose sentiments got hurt," he told NDTV news.
Separately, authorities in Punjab state took action Thursday when an 18-year-old woman killed herself by drinking poison a month after she told police she was gang-raped.
State authorities suspended one police officer and fired two others on accusations they delayed investigating and taking action in the case. The three accused in the rape were only arrested Thursday night, a month after the crime was reported.
"This is a very sensitive crime, I have taken it very seriously," said Paramjit Singh Gill, a top police officer in the city of Patiala.
The Press Trust of India reported that the woman was raped Nov. 13 and reported the attack to police Nov. 27. But police harassed the girl, asked her embarrassing questions and took no action against the accused, PTI reported, citing police sources.
Authorities in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh also suspended a police officer on accusations he refused to register a rape complaint from a woman who said she had been attacked by a driver.
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Associated Press writers Faris Mokhtar and Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this report.
She "passed away peacefully" with her family and officials of the Indian Embassy by her side, Dr. Kevin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth hospital, said in a statement.
After 10 days at a hospital in the Indian capital of New Delhi, where the attack occurred, the victim was brought Thursday to Mount Elizabeth hospital, which specializes in multi-organ transplant. Loh said the woman had remained in extremely critical condition since Thursday, and by late Friday her condition had taken a turn for the worse and her vital signs had deteriorated.
"Despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists in Mount Elizabeth Hospital to keep her stable, her condition continued to deteriorate over these two days," 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 woman and a male friend, who have not been identified, were traveling on a bus in New Delhi after watching a film on the evening of Dec. 16 when they were attacked by six men who raped her. The men also beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman's body, resulting in severe organ damage. Both were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.
Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries, a lung infection and brain damage. She also suffered from a heart attack while in the hospital in India.
Indian High Commissioner, or ambassador, T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters that the scale of the injuries she suffered was "very grave" and in the end "proved too much."
He said arrangements were being made to take her body back to India.
The frightening nature of the crime shocked Indians, who have come out in the thousands for almost daily demonstrations. Indian television channels said security had been tightened in New Delhi on Sunday in anticipation of more protests following the woman's death.
The protesters are demanding stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. Women face daily harassment across India, ranging from catcalls on the streets, groping and touching in public transport to rape.
The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, which forces them to keep quiet and not report it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Also, police often refuse to accept complaints from those who are courageous enough to report the rapes, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts drag on for years.
Indian attitudes toward rape are so entrenched that even politicians and opinion makers have often suggested that women should not go out at night or wear clothes that might be seen provocative.
On Friday, Abhijit Mukherjee, a national lawmaker and the son of India's president, apologized for calling the protesters "highly dented and painted" women who go from discos to demonstrations.
"I tender my unconditional apology to all the people whose sentiments got hurt," he told NDTV news.
Separately, authorities in Punjab state took action Thursday when an 18-year-old woman killed herself by drinking poison a month after she told police she was gang-raped.
State authorities suspended one police officer and fired two others on accusations they delayed investigating and taking action in the case. The three accused in the rape were only arrested Thursday night, a month after the crime was reported.
"This is a very sensitive crime, I have taken it very seriously," said Paramjit Singh Gill, a top police officer in the city of Patiala.
The Press Trust of India reported that the woman was raped Nov. 13 and reported the attack to police Nov. 27. But police harassed the girl, asked her embarrassing questions and took no action against the accused, PTI reported, citing police sources.
Authorities in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh also suspended a police officer on accusations he refused to register a rape complaint from a woman who said she had been attacked by a driver.
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Associated Press writers Faris Mokhtar and Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this report.
What the hell I hope they take these six men who did something like this and give them the most painful execution imaginable!. Are you seriously telling me NO ONE ON THE BUS did ANYTHING to help... or even the driver not stopping the bus! ... disgusting and I hope these pigs burn
India has so many problems. This issue is not even the tip of the iceberg. You obviously have socialization problems between men and women, over population, pollution, birth control, religion, prostitution.  This has been going on for over a Hundred and more years. America and the civilized world does not have all these problems.  And yes, there should be a public execution of those six males. Braveheart style.  Without Delay! Tomorrow would be perfect! Today even better.
Things like this must happen in order for change to occur. Think of this as India's Women's suffrage movement. One step at a time.
@Just a dude The women in India need to put a Army together and deal with them.
That's the middle east and Asia, the men don't have to respct the women there. They still live in caveman days.
 @DDG American women just got their voting right in early 1900,not
that long ago ! You think they already have the respect before and now !?
Caveman is not the word,animal is the one,and it is all over the world today !
 @DDG Typical western ignorance. Most Asian countries have no problems with electing women as their president and other top leadership positions. It would not be possible if they still lived in caveman days like you claim. South Korea just elected a female president last week.
 @DDG I was born in Thailand and moved with my family to the US when I was young and became an American citizen. I can asure you that we do respect women in most of Asia, and no, we do not live like cavemen.
 @DDG Unfortunately, while your assessment of some men from that area of the world is accurate, incidents like this still occur in more 'civilized' countries, including the United States. While some things in society change, and women have made gains in equality in the last 150 years, there are still men of all races who can't grasp the concept that women are people of value. Just looking at our domestic violence rates in this country prove that.
I've been following this story for several days and I'm very saddened by this young woman's fate.
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I can accept that different cultures have different expectations for men and women. I can accept that I may or may not like those differences. I do NOT accept that 'differences in culture' means using rape as a means to control women or as an organized tool of war. Men who rape are criminals, nothing more and certainly nothing less. In the school of manhood that I was raised in, that is punished by violent force and by lethal force if needs be. Nothing I have learned in my nearly 50 years of life has modified that.
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I should note that I consider the very rare woman who cries 'Rape!' falsely to be seriously lacking in the virtues one would associate with being a 'lady'. But that is, as I said, a rare occurance.
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While I freely admit that we have our gender issues in the US, I have hope that this case will eventually lead to an end in 'honor murders', 'bride burnings', and that lovely second- and third-world practice of selling your daughters to old men to settle debts. I have hope that it will, but I suspect that two entire generations of 'traditional' men in India will have to die off before it actually happens.
So sad. This is no longer just a rape case. It is time the Indian government to start enforcing their law. It is time the media to start exposing the men who raped and killed this woman to the world.
What I find ironic is that, while we supposedly find rape abhorrent in our own country, we still have a lot of the same stigma attached. There are still people (largely men) who say "she had it coming" or blame the victim. How a woman dresses has nothing to do with, rape is a crime of power, not sex. Sex is the weapon used, which I think is sick and says a lot about the men who use it. Men who know the truth need to stand up and condemn it more strongly and start having conversations among themselves about it. What does it say that women are not to dress a certain way or be out by themselves, that every man is a rapist who can't control themselves? I think if a man is a real man, a woman could walk in front of him naked without fear of being raped, because he has control of himself. India needs to treat this as a real crime, but our own society needs to take it more seriously too. (and any woman who falsely accuses another of rape needs to be charged too. Fair is fair, you don't use sex as a weapon in either direction.)
The institutionalized misogyny of Indian culture is being seen by the whole world and it is way past time they move into 2013 regarding the status of women. This case is just disgusting. Wishing the protesters stamina and that India can and does change.Â