The 23-year-old medical student, victim of a gang rape on December 16 in New Delhi, died Saturday from her injuries, announced a hospital in Singapore where she was cared for. Indian police secured several neighborhoods in the city and appealed for calm after several violent protests in recent years.
“We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4.45 a.m. [local time, 2045 UCT on the previous day] on 29 December, 2012,” Kelvin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said in a statement. “She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome,” said Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer of the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. She died from multiple organ failure.
“Her family and officials from the High Commission of India were by her side. The Mount Elizabeth Hospital team of doctors, nurses and staff join her family in mourning her loss,” Kelvin Loh added.
The medical student, whose name was not revealed, was brutally assaulted in New Delhi on December 16, on a bus, by six men who raped her, beat her with a crowbar, then threw her out of the bus. She was transferred Thursday to Singapore with a special flight, but her condition has severely deteriorated a few hours afterwards.
Her male companion, who was with her at the time of aggression, was also hospitalized in serious condition. Apparently, the attackers, who were arrested, came from rural, conservative areas of India. The aggression against the young student caused a wave of indignation and protests in India. There were clashes between police and angry protesters last weekend.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on television that he was deeply saddened by her death and demanded constructive action. New Delhi has a high rate of sex crimes with a rape reported every 18 hours.
The death of the student comes just days after another woman committed suicide after she was gang raped in the north of India.
Reply