Outrage in India over Delhi bus gang rape

Indian riot police have fired water cannon at demonstrators in New Delhi after protests against a gang rape in the capital turned violent.
During the protest screened live on television, police could be seen hosing down demonstrators after a group of them tried to tear down steel barricades outside the official residence of New Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
The protesters have been demanding swift punishment for the rapists.
Clashes erupted between protesters and police at the demonstration, one of a series being held in the capital and across the country, including Ahmedabad and Patna, following Sunday night’s attack on a bus.Police say six men raped the 23-year-old medical student, and beat her and her companion with iron rods before throwing them off the bus.
The woman is in a critical condition in hospital and doctors say she has severe internal injuries.
Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men had been arrested and a search was under way for the two other men.
One young woman, who described herself as a student at Delhi University, said there had to be a change of attitude among the authorities, who, she said, tried to pin the blame for sex attacks on victims.
Women are told that if they go out late at night, they will be raped,” said the student in an address to the crowd.
“As a woman I want to say that we are also human beings and you need to treat us as human beings. You will need to give us equal rights.
“It is a question of our fundamental rights… We want to be able to go out in Delhi at midnight if we want.” In a bid to stem the growing anger, Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced in parliament that there would be an immediate crackdown on buses having tinted glass and heavy curtains – measures that should already be in force.
“They shall be impounded immediately if they do not remove them. All buses will be asked to keep their lights on while plying at night in Delhi,” he said.
Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the main ruling Congress party, described the attack as a source of shame for the capital after she paid a visit late on Tuesday to the hospital where the victim is being treated. In a letter to Dikshit, Gandhi said that “such violence and criminality needs not only to be condemned, it calls for a concerted effort to fight it”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Delhi police commissioner called for the death penalty for convicted rapists.
“We will seek the most severe punishment of life imprisonment for the culprits and we will send a proposal to the government for the death sentence for rapists,” Kumar told reporters.
Rape currently carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, while the death sentence is restricted to rare cases of murder and “waging war against the country”.