Delhi gang-rape: lathicharge, water cannons used on protesters

mangaloretoday.com /NDTV

New Delhi, Dec 22: There was chaos outside North Block in New Delhi this morning as the police resorted to lathicharge and used water cannons on hundreds of protesters who tried to break barricades and enter the premises. The police also lobbed tear gas shells on the protesters, who are out on the streets demanding safety of women after a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi on Sunday

 

The North Block houses the Central government offices. The police took action when some protesters broke barricades. Reports suggest that the agitating protesters even attacked police vans; one policeman was injured in the rampage.

Roads leading to the North, South Block and Rashtrapati Bhawan have now been blocked. The police has called in reinforcements and Rapid Action Force has been deployed; many people have also been arrested.

 

 

 

The Home Ministry has requested the people to not turn violent.

Thousands of protesters had gathered at India Gate today and started moving towards Rashtrapati Bhawan.

While the movement for change is raging, doctors are working round the clock at Safdarjung Hospital to save the student. Doctors say the 23-year-old medical student is in stable condition but her platelet count has dropped further; there are also signs of septicaemia and an intestinal transplant is the only way out for her, they say. 

Doctors had said on Thursday that they "have never seen a case like this one" and praised the victim’s "immense fighting spirit."

Amanat has undergone five surgeries since she was admitted to hospital late on Sunday night. Six men have been accused of battering her with an iron rod before raping her for an hour while the bus she had boarded with a friend kept circling South Delhi roads.

Till now, she had been communicating with her parents and doctors by scribbling notes. On Thursday, she wrote "They must be punished" according to the Press Trust of India.

The girl’s friend, a software engineer, met her yesterday for the first time since the attack and told her that all the culprits have been arrested. Her friend was with her during the attack and was also assaulted.

India’s national crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year targeted women, with conviction rates for rape cases at 26 per cent.