Delhi gang rape victim flown to Singapore in ‘extremely critical’ condition
Indian students shout slogans as they wave a placard during a demonstration in Jammu on December 20, 2012, as they protest the rape of a young woman in the Indian capital. Riot police fired water cannon on December 19, at a protest in New Delhi over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old student who was left fighting for her life as outrage against the brutal attack grew across India.
A woman who was violently gang-raped aboard a Delhi bus has been flown to Singapore for medical treatment, the Press Trust of India reports.
Her condition is "extremely critical," according to doctors examining her at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
She is said to be battling infection and had to be resuscitated after suffering a cardiac arrest, the Times of India reported.
The Singapore hospital is specialized in organ transplants, PTI said, suggesting that the victim may require more surgery in addition to the three operations she has already undergone to repair severe damage to her intestines.
Her family have gone with her, according to the news wire, since the treatment is expected to take "many weeks."
More from GlobalPost: India has a gang rape problem
The victim, a 23-year-old physical therapist, was attacked on the evening of Dec. 16 as she and a friend took a bus home from a movie theater.
Doctors said the assault – which lasted nearly an hour and involved at least six men – was "the most grievous" they had ever seen.
The incident provoked public outrage and mass street protests, at which one policeman died.
The Indian government has attempted to assuage the anger by announcing tougher sentences for convicted rapists, the BBC said, as well as new security measures including extra police patrols at night, closer checks on bus drivers and a ban on tinted windows or curtains on buses.
More from GlobalPost: Are India's rape protests the beginning of social change?
Yet while the increased attention is welcome, GlobalPost's Jason Overdorf writes, "the most simplistic, ineffective, and unsurprising 'solutions' have already dominated the discourse on what needs to be done."
Overdorf suggests that fundamental changes in policing, cultural attitudes and specific laws are necessary for any real improvement in women's safety.
More protests were planned in Delhi on Thursday, CNN reported, bringing riot police out in force.
According to the Times of India, the government is concerned that any decline in the victim's condition could worsen the unrest, and is therefore "keen to be seen to be doing its very best" to save her, including paying for all her medical care.
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