Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The 23 year-old medical student, who was gangraped and tortured by a group of men in a moving bus on Sunday night, battles for life in Safdarjung hospital here.
Late on Monday, Delhi Police arrested driver Ram Singh, 32, and also recovered the bus used in the crime.
Both the girl and her male friend, who had boarded the chartered bus with tinted glass windows from Munirka in south Delhi around 9.45 pm to Palam, were assaulted with an iron rod by the men after the two resisted before they were dumped on the roadside near Mahipalpur flyover.
Chhaya Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South, told reporters, that both the girl and boy had "put up a fight" with the men.
She said the bus which the duo boarded was not in commercial service and they were picked up by the driver from Munirka bus stop for Rs 10 each to be dropped at Palam.
"Around seven men, including the driver and conductor, told the couple they were headed to Dwarka," Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma said.
The men misbehaved with the woman. When the boyfriend intervened, he was beaten up, said Sharma. The woman was then raped in the moving bus by four men.
"Of the seven, four men committed rape. We have prepared two sketches of suspects," she said. The woman's ordeal lasted for 30 minutes.
The police official said the cops came to know of the incident after the victims were dumped near Mahipalpur flyover. They were rushed to AIIMS from where the girl was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital.
The victim’s friend is an engineer and is currently working in a firm. While the 28-year-old boyfriend was discharged after treatment, the young woman, whose name is being withheld, was on ventilator at the Safdarjung Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The 23-year-old gangrape victim has undergone surgery and is "very critical", authorities at the Safdarjung hospital here said.
"The patient is very critical," SN Makwana, press information officer at the hospital, told a news agency.
A senior doctor at the hospital who is attending to the victim said the woman is in a "state of shock".
The girl, who studies in a college in Dehra Dun was interning at a hospital here for some months.
Delhi CM assures strict action
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, appalled at the girl's condition, said "strict action" would be taken against her attackers.
"The transport department has told me that the license of the bus has been cancelled and strict action would be taken, not only against this White Line bus but also to prevent any such incident in future," Dikshit told reporters here.
Education and Social Welfare Minister Kiran Walia, echoing the chief minister, said: "No one will be spared". "It is a shocking incident, we will take strict action," Walia told reporters here.
Reacting to the incident, NCW chairperson Mamata Sharma said, "Such incidents are increasing in Delhi. Police and government should be really alert. We will get an inquiry done and will also enquire with police as to what action has been taken so far."
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that "neither the home ministry nor Delhi Police are able to check such incidents" which have been on the rise.
"Delhi's law and order is being handled very irresponsibly by the Delhi government," he said.
First Published: Monday, December 17, 2012, 09:01