Delhi Gang Rape Victim Flown To Singapore Hospital
BBC NEWS, INDIA
December 26, 2012: A female student gang-raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi has been flown to Singapore for further treatment, officials say. They say the 23-year-old victim - who remains on life support - will be treated at a specialized facility and may require an organ transplant.
The attack earlier this month triggered violent public protests, which left one police officer dead. An inquiry into possible lapses by the authorities is now under way. Retired judge Usha Mehra is leading the investigation. Six men have been arrested and two police officers have been suspended following the 16 December attack.
'Prolonged treatment'
The victim that had three operations in Delhi would be further treated at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital; the Press Trust of India quoted senior Delhi doctor B.D. Athani as saying. He said the hospital had "a state-of-art multi-organ transplant facility" to treat the victim's severe intestinal injuries. The woman's family has accompanied her to Singapore because the treatment might take a long time, Dr Athani added.
Police in Delhi have opened roads and metro stations shut since Monday as protests against the incident eased. The government has tried to halt the rising 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.
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. The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area, intending to travel to Dwarka in southwest Delhi. 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 into a Delhi street.