Gangrape victim cremated away from public glare

Amid outpouring of anger and grief in the country, the body of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim was flown here from Singapore early this morning and cremated within hours.

The mortal remains were flown to the capital in a Special Aircraft of Air India and after landing at IGI airport, the plane was taken to its technical area where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were present to receive the body.

Both Singh and Gandhi spoke to the family members and consoled them.

The body was then taken to Mahavir Enclave residence where the girl lived and religious rituals were performed before taking it to the crematorium at Dwarka Sector 24 amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and RAF personnel.

The cremation took place under a dense cover of fog.

Minister of state for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh, West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra, Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta were also present at the cremation.

Media was not allowed in the crematorium.

A Special aircraft of Air India carrying the mortal remains of the victim, who died in Mount Elizebeth hospital yesterday morning, landed at IGI airport here at around 3.30 a.m.

The girl, a physiotherapy student, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted allegedly by six men in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16 night. She died yesterday morning.

While undergoing treatment at Safdarjung hospital, she was shifted to the Singapore hospital for further treatment.

The aircraft AIC-380A took off from Singapore at around 12:30 a.m. local time (10:00 p.m. IST Saturday), Indian High Commission officials said.

On the chartered plane, sent by the Indian government, were her family members who have been in Singapore since the girl was brought to the hospital here in an extremely critical condition.

The victim, who underwent three surgeries, had damaged internal organs in the assault. She also suffered a cardiac arrest and brain injury.

A senior police official said the security arrangements at the funeral were made to ensure that the exercise takes place peacefully.

There had been violent protests last weekend following the gang-rape and brutal assault on the girl.

Police had approached the Government yesterday and proposed that the body be taken directly to Ballia in UP, the girl’s native place, via Lucknow or Varanasi but the Government decided against it, sources said.

Surges of protests erupted across India since the attack on the night of December 16 when the woman was not only repeatedly raped but also sexually assaulted with an iron bar, leaving her with terrible intestinal injuries.

Thousands took part in fresh demonstrations today and they passed off peacefully as mourners vowed the student’s killing would serve as a tipping point for how the nation deals with violence against women.

After being treated at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, she was flown to Singapore on Wednesday night but doctors were unable to prevent a multiple organ failure and she was pronounced dead in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Braving freezing cold, thousands of people took part in late-night candle-lit vigils and silent protest marches across the country on Saturday, demanding stricter punishment to rapists and tougher measures to prevent crime against women.

The savage nature of the attack on the girl brought the simmering anger among the people to a tipping point and prompted the Government to promise better security for women and harsher sentences for crimes against them.

The girl, a physiotherapy student, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted allegedly by six men in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16 night. She died yesterday morning.

Police have slapped murder charges, which has death penalty in rarest of rare cases, against the six accused and will file the charge-sheet against them on January 3.

Investigators said they will seek the harshest punishment for the culprits.

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