Indian Gang-Rape Victim 'Extremely Critical' and Suffering Brain Damage
A 23-year-old Indian woman who was the victim of a brutal gang-rape earlier this month is now listed as "extremely critical" and suffering from brain damage as well as a lung infection. The young woman and a male friend were both beaten, and she raped by six men on Dec. 16.
"As at [11:00 GMT], the patient remains in an extremely critical condition," Dr. Kelvin Loh said in a statement yesterday. "Prior to her arrival, she has already undergone three abdominal surgeries and experienced a cardiac arrest in India. A multi-disciplinary team of specialists is taking care of her and doing everything possible to stabilize her condition."
The young woman and her friend were traveling on a public bus when six men approached and began beating them with an iron bar and taking turns raping the woman before throwing her out of the bus. To make matters worse, the bus went through several police checkpoints with no one stopping the attack.
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The attack has set off a new round of protests against the Indian government, which people believe has let rapists and abusers get away for years. Many feel that the atmosphere in India has not done enough to protect women and children from attacks. Protests have entered a second week, even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised that justice will be served.
"Let me state categorically that the issue of safety and security of women is of the highest concern to our government. There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population, and this participation simply cannot take place if their security and safety is not assured," Singh said in a public statement.
Yet the public has not been satisfied with Singh's statement and continues to call for severe prosecution for those involved in this latest attack. Photos from the Associated Press show thousands of women holding signs that show pictures of men hanging, with the words: "Death sentence to rapists."
The latest attack has shed new light on an old problem, particularly in New Delhi. According to Al-Jazeera, "Official figures show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year were against women, with the number of rapes in the capital rising 17 percent to 661 this year."
