NEW DELHI — Thousands of protesters streamed into the heart of New Delhi on Saturday to demand justice and better policing in the wake of the rape of a 23-yearold medical student.
Protesters and the police scuffled throughout the day. Police eventually used tear gas, water cannons and sticks to disperse the crowd. Officials said that 35 protesters and 37 police officers were injured, two officers seriously, and that six buses and several police vehicles were damaged.
The protesters promised to return in even greater numbers today, a threat grave enough that Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde held a news conference Saturday night to plead for calm.
“The government is committed to ensuring the safety of women in the capital as well as in the rest of the country,” Shinde said. “I appeal to this media, to all those who have come to support this dedication, to withdraw.”
Shinde listed four steps that the government would immediately take to beef up security in New Delhi: increasing the number of buses at night, tracking those buses with global-positioning devices, ensuring that drivers carryID badges and increasing the number of police officers on busy routes.
Anger over the crime has continued to build not only in New Delhi, but all over India, even as the police arrested six men accused of being involved. Shinde said that the victim gave a statement to a magistrate on Friday night and that the government hadsufficient evidence to prosecute the suspects, which he said would be done speedily.
The maximum penalty for rape in India is life in prison. But conviction rates for rape in India are lower than conviction rates for murder, experts say.
The woman was raped Dec. 16 after she and her boyfriend boarded a private bus. The bus, normally used to ferry school children, drove through some of Delhi’s better neighborhoods while the men raped the woman and, using iron rods, beat her and her boyfriend.
The men then stripped the two victims of their clothes and dumped them by the road.
“These rapists should be hanged publicly,” said Shaelly Tomar, a graduate student at Delhi University who took part in the protest with several friends. “If that happens, nobody will dare to do it again.”
Holding placards that said“Save Women Save India,” the protesters repeatedly shouted, “We want justice.”
Tens of thousands of rapes are reported every year in India, and many more go unreported because rape victims are often shunned and unable to marry. Even so, reported rape is on the rise, up about 25 percent in the past six years. Surveys have suggested that India is one of the most unsafe countries in the world for women.
The roots of the problem run deep in a conservative society that is having trouble adjusting to educational and economic advances by women, who for centuries have been relegated to second-class status. Demographics also play a role, since half of India’s population is underthe age of 25 and female infanticide and the neglect of girls’ welfare have created a growing gender imbalance.
The news media have reported an increase in the number of violent gang rapesby packs of men who often attack after seeing a woman in the company of a man.
But India’s criminal-justice system, which is riddled with incompetence, corruption and political meddling, seems unable to respond effectively. Police officers often buy their posts, and they are given minimal training and rely on bribes for much of their income. Indeed, one of India’s abiding mysteries is why it has yet to suffer the kind of explosion of violence seen in other emerging countries such as South Africa, Brazil and Venezuela.
The rape victim has had to undergo multiple surgeries and a portion of her intestines had to be removed, doctors said. Shinde also said that the government had canceled all permits for the transportation company that owns the bus on which the rape occurred.
Information for this article was contributed by Heather Timmons of The New York Times.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 12/23/2012