Govt to file chargesheet quickly

NEW DELHI, Dec 21:
Five days after her brutal gang- rape, the 23-year-old paramedical student was today taken off ventilator support but she showed early signs of infection setting in, as Government vowed to file the chargesheet in the case “quickly” and seek maximum punishment of life term for the six accused.
Even as protests continued for the fifth day here including at India Gate over the dastardly crime in a moving bus on Sunday night, Government complimented Delhi Police for cracking the “blind case” within a very short span of time.
Union Home Secretary R K Singh told a press conference that the police have been able to arrest right persons-five of them were arrested while one was still on the run.
Singh said henceforth no ‘gunda gardi’ (rowdiness) and misbehaviour to women will be tolerated and police action will be visible on the ground.
But the heat was on the Police when the Delhi High Court slammed it for being “evasive” in its probe status report in providing details of its officers on patrol duty in the area covered by the bus in which the girl was gang-raped for about 40 minutes.
In an emotional moment, the male friend of the girl who was with her during the sexual assault met the victim for the first time at Safdarjang hospital during which she enquired from him about her assailants.
“She has shown some mixed response. She has shown some signs of improvement and there are some signs of deterioration. She is off the ventilator at the moment. She is no more on ventilator. She is breathing spontaneously on her own,” Dr B D Athani, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, told a press conference. She was on ventilator in the ICU since she was admitted on Sunday night.
On the deterioration in the girl’s health, Athani said the level of Bilirubin, the yellow breakdown product of normal heme catabolism, has increased to five, which is a cause of concern as it would affect liver.
“There are early signs of setting up of infection. Infection seems to be setting in. These are early signs of sepsis. That is a part of the blood culture and several other. We have sent blood for test,” he said.
Around 60-70 activists of Arvind Kejriwals outfit Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a sit-in in front of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence this evening demanding immediate hanging of the rapists.
The girl began speaking to doctors when she asked for a glass of water and expressed her desire to meet her mother, who has been in and out of Safdarjung Hospital.
Doctors said she was “conscious”, able to speak and breathe on her own while noting that her respiratory rate, pulse rate and urine output were normal.
Athani said the trials to take the patient off ventilator began at 12.30 pm yesterday and she was breathing without the help of the machine till 2 am and from early morning till 3.30 pm this evening she was “off ventilator”.
“She is stable and she is breathing on her own,” Athani said, adding that platelet count is normal.
However, on the flip side, the girl’s condition deteriorated on account of plummeting of the glycolytic level and White Blood Cells with doctors calling them “early signs of setting in of infection and sepsis.”
The fifth accused-a helper who was absconding for the past five days-was apprehended from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun and he has claimed to be a minor.
“The fifth accused has been arrested in the rape case. His age is being verified before giving details,” Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a press conference in the presence of Home Secretary R K Singh.
Singh said the accused has claimed that he is a minor but investigators are now verifying the claim.
He said police will seek day-to-day hearing of the case for expeditious trial so that the accused could be convicted soon.
The Home Secretary said no public transport-buses, taxis, autos-will be allowed to ply in the national capital without police verification of drivers, cleaners or assistance and vehicles of those who are found to be violating the rules would be impounded.
He said drunk driving, drinking and loitering, driving with tinted glass and other unlawful activities will be dealt firmly and all public transport have to install GPS device for close monitoring.
Meanwhile, pain and anger spilled onto Delhi streets for the fifth day in a row over the gangrape.
Large protests were witnessed at Raisina Hills, where Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister’s Office and Home Ministry are located, India Gate, Jantar Mantar and near Safdurjung hospital throughout the day demanding speedy and stringent punishment to the rapists.
A group near Safdurjung Hospital blocked traffic in south Delhi, shouted slogans against police and Government besides demanding speedy justice for the 23-year-old victim.
Emotional and angry protesters, numbering over 500 at Raisina Hills and India Gate, carried placards which read ‘My Body, My Right’, ‘Rape is Ape: Have You Evolved?’, ‘Dress is not Yes’ and ‘Rape is Only Crime Where Victim Becomes Accused’.
The protesters who gathered on the Rajpath marched towards India Gate but then later changed course to head towards Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hills.
Policemen tried to prevent them by making a human chain but the women protest managers broke the cordon and headed towards the high security .
Though security personnel managed to lock the main gate, one of the protesters, identified as Swati, managed to get inside the premises but was later escorted out.
“They say we need permission to enter there. Why do we need permission? When we are attacked and harassed, nobody needs any permission. We are here to raise our voices and for that we need permission,” Swati said.
After sometime, the protesters went back to India Gate but later some of them again marched back to Rashtrapati Bhavan. This group of protesters were detained near Vijay Chowk.
Two days ago in a similar protest, around 200 people had gathered near North Block. They had dispersed only after Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde agreed to meet a delegation of JNUSU students.
At India Gate, the protesters were joined by CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, who demanded stringent punishment for the culprits.
“This is ugly and heinous…There should be a deterrent punishment. We cannot tolerate this anymore. There should be justice…Government should feel some shame. Some feeling of shame should be there,” Bardhan said.
“It is true that the administrative control of Delhi Police is with Union Home Ministry, but Sheila Dikshit could have at least assured the people that she will take up this matter with the Home Ministry rather than blaming it,” Raja said.
A section of the protesters, who had come from Delhi College of Arts, expressed their anguish through a small play.
A foreign national from Sweden who also accompanied the protesters to the India Gate said there was need for improvement in the law and order in the city.
“I have been here since last two months and I have experienced it myself. I strongly feel that there is a need for more security for the women here,” she said.
At Jantar Mantar, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a protest demanding that a special session of Parliament be convened and pass a law ensuring that a rapist be punished within a month.
They also brought families of rape victims to their protest.
“No rapist should be seen out of jail after one month. Everyone should be punished within a month. Make this law,” AAP chief spokesperson Manish Sisodia said addressing the protesters.
At Safdurjung Hospital, students of Gargi Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya and college students also joined the protest and express solidarity towards the victim.
“We want the culprits to be handed over to the public. Public will do the justice. They should be either hanged or should be stoned to death,” Esha, a student, said.
“This is not the first rape. For last few years this city has become a city of rapes. Neither the Government nor the police did enough to protect the women from these animals. We want justice and security,” said Jhanvi, another student. Around 5-7 physiotherapists of Safdurjung hospital also joined the protests shouting slogans.
“Police are claiming that they have arrested the culprits so they have cracked the case. So what about our safety? This incident has once again proved that Delhi is unsafe for women and the police administration has failed to prevent such activities,” said Sonia, a physiotherapist.
Amid slogans of ‘A Girl is Not a Private Property of Anyone’, students demanded that the rape culprits should face stringent punishment.
Meanwhile, the sixth accused in gang-rape of a girl in Delhi was arrested from his house in Bihar’s Aurangabad district this evening.
“A joint team of Bihar Police and Delhi Police caught Akshay Thakur from his home in Lahankarma village in Tandwa police station of Aurangabad district,” Superintendent of Police, Aurangabad, Pranav Kumar told reporters.
The SP said that Bihar police was keeping a watch over Thakur’s house. “The police got a tip-off that Akshay has come home and nabbed him from there,” Kumar said.
He said Thakur, the son of a marginal farmer Saryu Singh, would be produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate for transit remand to Delhi.
The accused, a matriculate from Tandwa Government school, had left village for Chhattisgarh for work and had gone to Delhi last year for livelihood.
The joint team of Delhi Police and Bihar Police had detained his father and younger brother Abhay Singh on Wednesday and put them to rigorous questioning about the absconder.
They were, however, let off later.
Meanwhile, in yet another case of rape in the capital, a 40-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped today in Welcome area of the capital by three persons, police said.
The incident took place at the rented accommodation of the mother of four.
One of the accused, Gaffar (46) has been arrested while two others were absconding, police said.
Police has identified one of the two absconding accused as Aalam, also 46.
The victim was living in rented accommodation for around a fortnight, while her family was living in New Usmanpur area.
According to police, the accused entered into her house and forced her to consume a spiked drink and later took turns to rape her. (PTI)

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