Rape victim still critical, one accused says 'Hang me'

New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) Thousands took to the streets across India Wednesday to demand death for the men who tortured and raped a young woman here in a moving bus, leaving her still battling for life.

As police hunted for two of the six accused across five states, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply disturbed" by the horrific assault on the 23-year-old who was dumped by the road along with her battered boyfriend Sunday night.

In the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Namrita Agarwal, one of the accused, Vinay Sharma, 20, denied taking part in the gang-rape but pleaded that he be hanged.

"I have committed a horrible crime. I had beaten up the boy. I should be hanged," the man said.

Another accused, Pawan Gupta, a 19-year-old fruit seller, admitted he had "wronged" the woman but did not admit to raping her.

The magistrate sent Sharma and Gupta to four days police custody. Mukesh, brother of co-accused and bus driver Ram Singh, was sent to the Tihar Jail for 14 days.

With the Delhi High Court asking the Delhi government to provide the best medical treatment to the woman, doctors at Safdarjung Hospital conducted a two-hour life-saving surgery and removed her badly damaged intestines.

Describing it as "one of the most tragic incidents" they had ever seen, the doctors said they removed the intestines to prevent gangrene.

The young physiotherapist, who hails from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, remained on ventilator. Doctors said her condition was still critical.

Delhi Police have launched a massive manhunt spread across Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar to track down the other two accused: Akshay Thakur and Raju.

All six men were out on a joyride in the private bus and were drinking when the unsuspecting woman and her friend boarded it at Munrika in south Delhi at about 9 p.m. Sunday.
With tinted windows and curtains giving them cover, the six tortured and raped the woman. They also thrashed both for putting up resistance and eventually dumped them 40 minutes later by the roadside.
The lawyer-father of the 28-year-old man told IANS that his son was in shock and "unable to talk".
As the beastly way the accused assaulted the woman came to light, the nationwide revulsion continued for a second day. Thousands gathered in key centres across cities to voice their disgust and anger.

In Delhi, police used water jets to break up a noisy protest outside Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's residence. Another demonstration near the Delhi Police Headquarters ended peacefully. In the evening, thousands massed at the India Gate lawns with candles, flaming torches and banners.

Most of those who spoke to the media demanded that the rapists be hanged. The demand was also echoed by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, India's biggest trade union.

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhary said after a 20-minute meeting with the prime minister that she and other women parliamentarians demanded fast track courts.

In the Delhi High Court, Chief Justice D. Murugesan moaned that "nobody is safe" in the capital.

He said a proposal from the Delhi chief minister to set up five fast track courts to deal with rape cases had been accepted.

In parliament, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde vowed a crackdown on buses with tinted glasses.

Police would also verify the antecedents of all drivers, staff of all public vehicles and autorickshaws in Delhi, he said.

Several online campaigns were launched, with people expressing shock and anger on social networking sites.

Protests were also reported from Gurgaon, Kolkata, Tripura, Kanpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Varanasi demanding laws to hand out harsh punishment to the rapists