Brutal India gang rape triggers outrage

An Indian woman along with the others participates in a protest condemning the gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a city bus late Sunday in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. / AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal

NEW DELHI The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country Wednesday as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty. As the calls for action grew louder, two more gang-rapes were reported, including one in which the 10-year-old victim was killed.

"I feel it is sick what is happening across the country. . It is totally sick, and it needs to stop," said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi's police headquarters, protested near Parliament and rallied outside a major university. Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city's top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

"We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day," said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

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As protests raged in cities across India, at least two girls were gang-raped, with one of them killed.

Police on Wednesday fished out the body of a 10-year old girl from a canal in Bihar state's Saharsa district. Police superintendent Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said the girl had been gang-raped and killed and her body dumped in the canal. Police were investigating and a breakthrough was expected soon, Satyarthi said.

Elsewhere, a 14 -year old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men, said Jyoti Kumar, the district education officer.

The men have been identified, but police were yet to make any arrests, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old victim of the first rape lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city - passing through several police checkpoints - before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road Sunday night.

Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress Party, visited the victim, promised swift action against the perpetrators and called for police to be trained to deal with crimes against women.

"It is a matter of shame that these incidents recur with painful regularity and that our daughters, sisters and mothers are unsafe in our capital city," she wrote in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

In New Delhi and across India, the outpouring of anger is unusual in a country where attacks against women are rarely prosecuted. The Times of India newspaper dedicated four pages to the rape Wednesday, demanding an example be made of the rapists, while television stations debated the nation's treatment of its women.

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[BobbyGRASP]

Rapists should instead be castrated without anesthesia and forced to suffer as their victim did. I cannot image why I would ever do any kind of business with any male in such a vile country. Yes, I suppose there is some beauty in India, but such attitudes and behaviors obliterate all of it from my view.

[hypnotoad72]

India is one heck of a democracy, if the majority want rape while the protesting minority are put down like that...

Or is India a democracy in name only?

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2006/05/23/arundhati-roy-india-is-not-a-democracy/

[CarsonCitySteve]

They should ban rape. Better yet, get Biden on it straight away! Make rape illegal and only illegals will rape! Yes America, there is a parallel.

[lfield11]

Please sign the petition to the Chief Justice of India at:

http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/president-cji-stop-rape-now

[Daid132]

....and this is where America sents Tech Service calls from the like of HP and others!

[hypnotoad72]

At taxpayer expense!

Dell, Apple, et al, get lots in taxpayer-funded welfare as they offshore jobs to "increase" their profits with. It's profiteering. And for a list of people to not vote for, look at those who voted 'no' in the following list, since they chose to let corporate entitlements in return for offshoring jobs (which led to the increase of deficit spending as a result, for obvious reasons) continue:

http://www.ontheissues.org/SenateVote/Party_2005-63.htm

[enlightenu]

What a hell hole of a country.

[909101]

Are you talking about India or the USA? I guess if you're focus is the mass murder of children then you would be referring to the USA. If you talking about gang rape, I supposed you're referring to India.

[quincytodd]

I too am outraged by the gang rape of this student. People who engage in this sort of activity need to be incarcerated for life. Gang rape is always inexcusable!