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India police use water cannon, tear gas as gang-rape protests intensify
By Mayank Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI | Sat Dec 22, 2012 10:39am EST
(Reuters) - Indian police used batons, tear gas and water cannon to turn back thousands of people marching on the presidential palace on Saturday in intensifying protests against the gang-rape of a woman on the streets and on social media.
The 23-year-old victim is battling for her life in hospital after she was beaten, raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus on a busy New Delhi street last Sunday. Five people have been arrested.
The protesters, largely college students, are demanding the death penalty for the accused and safety assurances for women.
New Delhi, home to about 16 million people, has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities. Police figures show a rape is reported on average every 18 hours and some other form of sexual attack every 14 hours.
Appealing for calm, India's junior minister for home affairs, R.P.N. Singh, said the government had listened to the protesters.
"We have assured on the floor of the house and on every platform possible that strictest action will be taken against the accused. The police have been asked to show restraint but I want to tell boys and girls that breaking barriers will not help," Singh said.
But the protests are growing amid widespread media coverage.
"If Rahul Gandhi claims to be a youth icon then he should have been here, talking to protesters and taking up the issue of women's safety," one protester said.
Gandhi, the 42-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 65 years of independence, is widely seen as a future prime minister.
Marches, demonstrations and candlelight vigils have spread during the week to cities in states from the north of the country to the south.
In the northeastern state of Assam, hundreds of women and girls marched through the city of Guwahati on Friday, carrying placards and shouting "Hang Rapists" and "Stop Violence Against Women".
(Additional reporting by Anuja Jairam; Editing by Nick Macfie)
India police use water cannon, tear gas as gang-rape protests intensify
MAYANK BHARDWAJ, REUTERS
FIRST POSTED: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012 05:50 AM EST | UPDATED: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012 06:00 AM EST
Demonstrators hold candles and placards during a candlelight vigil to show solidarity with a rape victim in New Delhi, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh December 21, 2012. (REUTERS/Ajay Verma)
NEW DELHI - Indian police used batons, tear gas and water cannon to turn back thousands of people marching on the presidential palace on Saturday in intensifying protests against the gang-rape of a woman on the streets and on social media.
The 23-year-old victim is battling for her life in hospital after she was beaten, raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus on a busy New Delhi street last Sunday. Five people have been arrested.
The protesters, largely college students, are demanding the death penalty for the accused and safety assurances for women.
New Delhi, home to about 16 million people, has the highest number of sex crimes among India’s major cities. Police figures show a rape is reported on average every 18 hours and some other form of sexual attack every 14 hours.
Appealing for calm, India’s junior minister for home affairs, R.P.N. Singh, said the government had listened to the protesters.
“We have assured on the floor of the house and on every platform possible that strictest action will be taken against the accused. The police have been asked to show restraint but I want to tell boys and girls that breaking barriers will not help,” Singh said.
But the protests are growing amid widespread media coverage.
“If Rahul Gandhi claims to be a youth icon then he should have been here, talking to protesters and taking up the issue of women’s safety,” one protester said.
Gandhi, the 42-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 65 years of independence, is widely seen as a future prime minister.
Marches, demonstrations and candlelight vigils have spread during the week to cities in states from the north of the country to the south.
In the northeastern state of Assam, hundreds of women and girls marched through the city of Guwahati on Friday, carrying placards and shouting “Hang Rapists” and “Stop Violence Against Women”.
India gang rape: Delhi police announce new measures to protect women
Indian officials have announced a broad campaign to protect women in Delhi following the gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in the capital.
Protests in New Delhi Photo: AFP/GETTY
By Our Foreign Staff
2:52PM GMT 21 Dec 2012
The attack sparked days of protests across the country from women demanding that authorities take tougher action to protect them against the daily threat of harassment and violence. The government said it is taking steps to address those concerns.
"There will not be any tolerance for crimes against women," Home Secretary R.K. Singh said.
Bus drivers in New Delhi will be required to display their identification prominently in the vehicles, buses are now required to remove tinting from their windows and plainclothes police are being placed on buses to protect female passengers, he said. In addition, chartered buses such as the one where the attack occurred will be impounded if they illegally ply for fares on the streets, he said.
Authorities are also cracking down on drunk driving and on loitering gangs of drunken youths, he added.
The victim and a companion were attacked after getting a ride on a chartered bus after going to the cinema on Sunday evening. Police said the men on the bus gang-raped her and beat her and her companion with iron rods as the bus drove through the city for hours, even passing through police checkpoints. The assailants eventually stripped the pair and dumped them on the side of a road.
The woman remains in a serious condition in a Delhi hospital.
Protesters marched to the presidential residence yesterday and towards parliament, while theatre troupes performed plays about women's safety in a park in central Delhi. A group blocked traffic near the hospital where the victim, who had severe internal injuries, was being treated.
The case has brought the issue of rape in India to the fore. A think-tank report released on Thursday revealed that at least 20 men accused of raping women ran in Indian elections in the last five years
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) study said many Indian parties fielded candidates who were facing rape accusations.
"Since 2007, political parties gave tickets to 20 rape accused to fight in state elections. This is shocking and requires urgent action," Jagdeep Chhokar, the founder of ADR, said.
"The politicians who come out to condemn rape are the ones who are openly giving the rape accused a chance to fight elections. This is hypocrisy."
The report stated that political parties had also given tickets to 260 men who were charged with other crimes against women, including molestation.
