India's High Commissioner to Singapore, Dr. T. C. A. Raghavan attends an unscheduled press conference at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on Dec. 29, 2012. The 23-year-old victim of the recent gang rape died at the hospital at 4:45 a.m. on Saturday after suffering from severe organ failure. (Photo: Xinhua)
India woke up united in grief to the news of the death of the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim at a hospital in Singapore in the wee hours of Saturday.
According to doctors treating her, the victim succumbed to her injuries at 2.15 a.m. (Indian time) at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, nearly two weeks after the horrific gangrape on a moving bus by six men shocked India and triggered violent public protests in the national capital, leaving one cop dead.
The Delhi University medical student was shifted to the Singapore hospital by a special air ambulance Thursday after undergoing at least three operations at a government hospital in the Indian capital.
"She had suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain. She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome," Kelvin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said in a statement.
He added, "We are humbled by the privilege of being tasked to care for her in her final struggle."
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the tributes to the victim by condoling her death and assuring measures to ensure safety of women, at the same time, urging protesters to maintain calm and channelize their emotions and energies constructively.
"It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channelize these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action. The need of the hour is a dispassionate debate and inquiry into the critical changes that are required in societal attitudes," the Prime Minister said in the national capital.
"The government is examining the penal provisions that exist for such crimes and measures to enhance the safety and security of women. I hope that the entire political class and civil society will set aside narrow sectional interests to help us all reach the end that we all desire -- making India a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in," Singh added.
Indian High Commission to Singapore has said that arrangements are being made to send the victim's body to India later in the day. "The deceased and family members will be flown out in a chartered aircraft later in the day," TCA Raghavan, Indian envoy to Singapore, told media.
In fact, the decision to shift the victim to the Singapore hospital was taken by the government on recommendation of the doctors treating her, according to Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
The victim was gang-raped on Dec. 16 on a moving bus by six men who also beat her up mercilessly, along with her boyfriend, before throwing off the duo in the south of the Indian capital. The duo boarded the private bus after watching a movie at a multiplex around 9.30 p.m. on that day.
All the six accused have been arrested and are currently in judicial custody awaiting trial due to start next week. Two senior police officials were also suspended for failing to prevent the incident.
The Indian government has announced a slew of measures to ensure safety of women in the wake of violent clashes in the national capital over the gang-rape and even set up a judicial inquiry commission to probe into the incident and find out lapses, if any, on the part of authorities and "fix responsibility".
