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A 23-year old medical student was attacked on a bus in Delhi while on her way home from the cinema. The male friend she was with was beaten up and she was raped by six men for over an hour. They also violated her with an iron bar, causing the injuries which eventually led to her death two weeks later.
This horrific incident comes at a time of growing outrage in India about how women are treated and about the prevalence of rape and sexual assault. Demonstrators have repeatedly taken to the streets, to be met with tear gas, water cannon and attacks from riot police.
Police are guarding the presidential palace, parliament and war memorial in an attempt to deflect the rage which so many people feel towards not just toward the perpetrators of this and other rapes, but towards government and police who are regarded as at best complacent - and at worst as colluding in growing numbers of attacks on women.
Sexual violence and official complicity
The government was silent for days after the attack. It has done little to challenge the climate where sexual attacks are widespread and offenders walk free. It is now proposing naming sex offenders, which may make some small difference but is hardly likely to alter the fundamentals of society where women are often not believed and where, if they are known to have been raped, they face social stigma and are unlikely to get married.