SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The gang rape victim whose assault in New Delhi triggered nationwide protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, potentially threatening fresh protests in India where her case is a rallying point for women's rights.
The 23-year-old
medical student, severely beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus
in New Delhi two weeks ago, had been flown to Singapore in a critical condition by the Indian government on Thursday for specialist treatment.
"We are very sad to
report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4:45 a.m. on Dec 29,
2012 (2045 GMT Friday). Her family and officials from the High
Commission (embassy) of India were by her side," Mount Elizabeth Hospital Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said in a statement.
Most rapes and
other sex crimes in India go unreported and offenders are rarely
punished, women's rights activists say. But the brutality of the
December 16 assault sparked public outrage and calls for better policing
and harsher punishment for rapists.
The case has received blanket coverage on cable
television news channels. The woman has not been identified but some
Indian media have called her "Amanat", an Urdu word meaning "treasure".
"We are saddened to learn that she has succumbed to her
injuries, and would like to extend our deepest condolences to her
family during this time of bereavement," Singapore's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday,
the hospital had reported that the woman's condition had taken a turn
for the worse. It said that her family had been informed and were by her
side.
T.C.A. Raghavan,
the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, said after her death that the
family had expressed a desire for her body to be flown back to India.
Moments later, the woman's body was loaded into a van and driven away.
Talking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Raghavan
declined to comment on reports in India accusing the government of
sending her to Singapore to minimise the possible backlash in the event
of her death.
Some Indian medical experts had questioned the decision
to airlift the woman to Singapore, calling it a risky manoeuvre given
the seriousness of her injuries. They had said she was already receiving
the best possible care in India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been
battling criticism that it was tone-deaf to the outcry and heavy handed
in its response to the protests in the Indian capital.
"It is deeply saddening and just beyond words. The
police and government definitely have to do something more," said
Sharanya Ramachandran, an Indian national working as an engineer in
Singapore.
"They should bring in very severe punishment for such
cases. They should start recognising that it is a big crime."
"SIGNIFICANT BRAIN INJURY"
The Singapore hospital said earlier that the woman had
suffered "significant brain injury" and was surviving against the odds.
She had already undergone three abdominal operations before being flown
to Singapore.
Protests over the
lack of safety for women erupted across India after the attack,
culminating last weekend in pitched battles between police and
protesters in the heart of New Delhi.
New Delhi has been
on edge since the weekend clashes. Hundreds of policemen have been
deployed on the streets of the capital and streets leading to the main
protest site, the India Gate war memorial, have been shut for long
periods, severely disrupting traffic in the city of 16 million.
Commentators and
sociologists say the rape has tapped into a deep well of frustration
that many Indians feel over what they see as weak governance and poor
leadership on social and economic issues.
Many protesters
have complained that Singh's government has done little to curb the
abuse of women in the country of 1.2 billion. A global poll by the
Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.
New Delhi has the
highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape
reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures.
Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country
rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.
(Additional
reporting by Ross Colvin in New Delhi and Saeed Azhar and Edgar Su in
Singapore; Editing by Michael Roddy and Mark Bendeich)
