WSJ :By AMOL SHARMA, KRISHNA POKHAREL and VIBHUTI AGARWAL
A Woman Determined to Improve Her Position in Life Became a Victim of a Brutal Attack; Alleged Culprits on 'Joy Ride'
NEW DELHI—On the evening of Dec. 16, a young female physiotherapy student went to a movie with a male friend. After, they waited at a bus stop on a busy road in a south Delhi neighborhood called Munirka.
They were, in many ways, the face of a youthful, up-and-coming India. She was 23 years old, from a lower-caste rural family, according to news reports. She was a role model in her neighborhood, reports said, engrossed in her studies in the northern city of Dehradun, paying tuition with money raised when her parents sold their land.
"She wanted to ensure that she studied well, stood on her own feet and made it big in life so she could ensure a better future for her family," a friend told the Sunday Express.
Her companion on Dec. 16 was a 28-year-old software engineer at a local technology company. The two victims' names haven't been disclosed by authorities.
The same evening, not far away, a much different side of youthful India was on display. Two brothers—Ram and Mukesh Singh—cooked some chicken at their home in a slum called Ravi Dass Camp, a maze of narrow lanes and open drains. Neighbors describe the brothers as rowdy, heavy drinkers.
Final Days
The attack and death of the woman whose suffering has prompted calls for change in India:
Dec. 16 A young woman and a male friend board a bus home in south Delhi. He is beaten up, she is gang raped. Both are taken to the hospital.
Dec. 17 The regular driver of the bus is arrested as a suspect; five more suspects are arrested in the following days.
Dec. 17-20 The woman is put on life support and undergoes two abdominal surgeries.
Dec. 21 Doctors say the woman is recovering enough to come off life support.
Dec. 22-23 Protests in New Delhi demanding better public security are broken up by police with tear gas and water cannon.
Dec. 23 The woman complains of breathing problems and is put back on life support. She has a third abdominal surgery.
Dec. 26 She suffers cardiac arrest; flown to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital.
Dec. 28 Hospital says the woman's health, already 'extremely critical,' has worsened.
Dec. 29 The woman is reported dead of 'severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain.'
Dec. 29 Police add murder to the other charges facing the six men who allegedly attacked the woman. Peaceful demonstrations are held around India.
Dec. 30 The victim's body is returned to New Delhi, received by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party. The victim's body is cremated a few hours later.
The brothers decided, with four friends, to take a "joy ride" in the bus that Ram Singh drove for a living, according to police statements. None of the six, who are all in custody, nor their lawyers could be reached for comment.
A little after 9 p.m., the bus pulled in at the stop where the couple waited, police say. They were the only ones to board, paying a fare of about 20 rupees, or 35 cents, according to police. Thus began an encounter so gruesome that it shocked the nation and, ultimately, took a life.
As the bus set off, three of the men who were seated in the driver's cabin started harassing the two passengers, police say. When the software engineer tried to resist, the men started beating him on his legs, arms and head, according to police.
The woman tried to intervene to protect her friend. The men dragged her to the rear of the bus and raped her as they drove around south Delhi for an hour, police say.
Finally, the men robbed the couple, stripped them and pushed them out of the bus onto a highway, according to police. They were found and taken to Safdarjung Hospital, one of the largest in Delhi. The man was later released; Indian media said he was at home in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which borders the capital.
Amol Sharma/The Wall Street Journal
Residents of the Ravi Dass Camp slum in Delhi, the home of four of the men charged in the attack.
The next morning, police arrested Ram Singh, 33 years old, as he sat on the same bus. Police said he admitted to the crime and disclosed the names of the other men involved, including his younger brother Mukesh, who was arrested the following day.
Among the others were two more Ravi Dass Camp residents: a fruit-seller and a fitness instructor at a local gym. Both are in their late teens, according to police and local residents.
Another two men also are in custody: a 28-year-old from the north Indian state of Bihar and a juvenile from Uttar Pradesh. Police said both worked as bus cleaners.
As the news of the attack spread, prompting round-the-clock coverage on India's television news stations, the young woman battled for her life.
"I haven't seen such a case in my career of 30 years," said B.D. Athani, medical superintendent at Safdarjung Hospital. "It was a severe form of assault and brutality."
The victim was put on life support and underwent two abdominal surgeries during the first few days, including having a portion of her intestines and genitals removed.
She responded well to the surgeries and remained conscious. She gave a statement about the rape to police, mostly by writing notes.
On Dec. 21, five days after the attack, doctors told a news conference they had taken her off life support, but were worried about infection spreading to her liver.
Two days later she was put back on life support when she complained of breathing problems, said Yatin Mehta, a critical care specialist who was part of the team treating her.
A third abdominal surgery that day attempted to deal with internal bleeding and fluid collection in her abdomen, he said.
On Dec. 26, she suffered a cardiac arrest. Her deterioration led the government, on doctors' advice, to send her that evening to Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore, one of Asia's top hospitals.
By the time she boarded the air ambulance, infection had spread to the woman's lungs—as well as her abdomen—and she had suffered brain injury, according to doctors.
In Singapore, eight specialists were assigned to the woman. The hospital put her on maximum artificial ventilation support and pumped her with antibiotics and stimulants aimed at maximizing her ability to fight off infection, according to statements it released.
But, on Friday, Mount Elizabeth said the patient's health, already "extremely critical" on admission, had taken a turn for the worse.
She died on Saturday at 4:45 a.m. local time of "severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain."
Later in the day, police charged the six alleged attackers with murder. A special Air India plane flew the young woman back to New Delhi. A few hours later, attended by her family and government officials, the body of the woman, a Hindu, was cremated.
In a village in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh state, where the family hails from, the victim's 80-year-old grandmother was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: "They left this village for a better life. Look what they have got."
—Romit Guha and Rajesh Roy contributed to this article.
A version of this article appeared December 31, 2012, on page A10 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: How a Night Out in Delhi Turned Tragic.
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