Protests in New Delhi over rape in bus

New Delhi has erupted with fury over the rape of a 23-year-old paramedic even as police questioned four of the alleged perpetrators, including a bus driver called "Mental" by his friends.

Police had to use water cannon to control crowds who protested on the streets and in front of the house of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as the capital prepared to host the India-Asean Summit, much to the embarrassment of the federal government.

Opposition parties joined in the protests while Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wrote to federal Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to take action, saying it was a "shame for us who are responsible for the security of our cities that a young woman can be raped in a moving bus in the capital of the country and flung on to the street".

Four men have been arrested, including bus driver Ram Singh, 30. Two of them confessed in court yesterday to beating up the girl's male friend but denied raping her.

On Sunday night, Singh and five others took a bus, hired out to a school to ferry students by day, on a "joy ride", luring the victim and her male friend who were on their way home at 9pm after watching a movie at a mall.

The men, who even charged the pair 10 rupees (18 US cents) each for the ride, gang-raped the victim and beat up her friend in the moving bus that passed at least five police pickets in South Delhi.

The crime has not only caused national outrage but also embarrassed New Delhi as it gets ready to host the India-Asean summit.

Leaders from the 10 Asean states, including Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, started arriving in Delhi yesterday for the summit, which starts today, even as protests broke out in the city.

Hundreds of protesters, including social activists and students, chanted "We want justice" outside police headquarters.

"My body, my right, respect it", "zero tolerance for crime against women" and "don't teach me what to wear, teach your sons not to rape", read some placards at protests at other locations.

People also poured out their anger and frustration on social networking sites and in the media.

"Enough talk. Let's make women safe," read a headline from The Times of India yesterday, while The Hindu newspaper had the headline "Time to be ashamed".

The Indian capital has earned the dubious reputation of being the "rape capital", topping a list of 35 major cities like Bangalore and Mumbai last year as the most unsafe city in the country.

Police said the number of rape cases reported increased from 459 in 2009 to 568 last year. There have been more than 600 cases this year.

A survey by Jagori, a non-governmental organisation working in health, found that women in Delhi face repeated and various forms of harassment in crowded and secluded places. The most common kinds are lewd remarks, staring, leering and groping.

But the brutality of the gang-rape, details of which have been coming out since Sunday, has shocked people into voicing out over the lack of security for women in Delhi, the need for strict laws to deter crimes against women and the failure of police action in deterring such crimes. The maximum punishment for rape is life imprisonment.

The Delhi High Court hauled up the police, asking them to submit a detailed report on the case within 48 hours starting yesterday. Women lawmakers, who staged their own protest outside Parliament, demanded the death penalty for the accused. The rape case dominated proceedings in Parliament in the past two days.

The police have come under intense pressure to act swiftly on this case, and Home Minister Shinde has announced a slew of measures, including increasing police patrols in Delhi, a crackdown on buses with tinted windows and lights in buses plying in the night.

But activists remain sceptical that anything would change. "Not a chance in a million," said women's rights activist Madhu Kishwar.