India: Protests for women’s safety rattle Delhi (PHOTOS)
A protestors chants slogans as she braces herself against the spray fired from Police water canons during a protest against the Indian governments reaction to recent rape incidents in India, in front of India Gate on December 23, 2012 in New Delhi, India. The gang rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on December 16, in Delhi, has led to people to react openly against the governments current rape laws. Over a thousand protesters gathered in front of Delhi to protest against lax laws and the governments handling of recent rape cases all over India.
Protesters in India's capital, New Delhi, continued to call for improvements to women's safety on Thursday, in the aftermath of a brutal gang rape.
The 23-year-old woman, whose assault on Dec. 16 sparked the protests, was flown to Singapore for further medical treatment. The Associated Press reported that she died in the hospital in Singapore early on Saturday morning.
GlobalPost's India correspondent Jason Overdorf reported that the Indian government's crackdown has only fueled public anger and concern over women's safety.
"Protests against the decay of law and order and the callous treatment of victims of harassment and sexual assault continued this week in New Delhi, and across India," Overdorf wrote.
And though the protesters are now fewer in number, and have ceded contentious symbols such as India Gate and the house of the president to the police following a hamfisted crackdown over the weekend, the anger has not dissipated.
India is now considering a fast-track court process which would expedite rape cases and increase the punishment for sexual violence.