Delhi rape victim 'fighting for life' in Singapore

A female student gang-raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi is "fighting for her life" at a Singapore hospital, doctors say.

The 23-year-old victim - who remains on life support - has suffered "significant brain injury".

The victim, who may require an organ transplant, has been admitted to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

"The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life," Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said in a statement.

"Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury."

Dr Loh said that multi-disciplinary team of specialists has been "working tirelessly to treat her since her arrival, and is doing everything possible to stabilise her condition over the next few days".

India's Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said in a statement said the government had decided to send the victim overseas on the recommendation of her doctors.

"Despite the best efforts of our doctors, the victim continues to be critical and her fluctuating health remains a big cause of concern to all of us," he said.

The government has tried to halt rising public anger by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

The government has also said that it will post the photos, names and addresses of convicted rapists on official websites to shame them.

It has set up two committees - one looking into speeding up trials of cases involving sexual assaults on women, and the other to examine the lapses that might have led to the incident in Delhi.

But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.

The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area, intending to travel to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.

Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars and thrown out of the moving bus into a Delhi street.

BBC News.