Life sentences sought for Delhi rapists
2012-12-21 22:23
New Delhi - India's government, facing swelling protests
over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed on Friday to press for
life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.
Home Secretary R K Singh also offered state assistance to
the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack who was fighting for
her life in hospital after suffering enormous injuries to her intestines.
"We will ask for the maximum punishment of life
imprisonment and ask the court for the speedy trial of the accused," Singh
said amid demands from thousands of angry protesters for the death sentence for
the detained suspects.
Six drunken men were joyriding on a bus when they picked
up the physiotherapy student and her 28-year-old male companion and took turns
raping her.
Afterwards, they threw the pair off the speeding vehicle.
Police say the woman was attacked with an iron rod after
being raped.
Five people, including the bus driver, have been arrested
while a hunt is underway for the remaining suspect, city police commissioner
Neeraj Kumar said.
Kumar said police have charged the detained suspects with
attempted murder.
"Police teams are close on the heels of the sixth
and we will get him soon," Kumar said at a joint news conference with the
home secretary.
Kumar promised a slew of measures to "make Delhi
safe," promising squads of officers would patrol the city, crack down on
vehicles with darkened glasses and zero in on drunken motorists.
"All hooliganism will be swiftly punished," the
home secretary added.
Hundreds of people, mostly women, kept a vigil outside
the hospital where the woman was being kept on life support after several
rounds of surgery.
