India Gang Rape: Scenes of Rage; Seeds of Change

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Vigil Against Violence

A girl lights tapers during a candlelight vigil for Jyoti Singh Pandey, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who was assaulted and gang raped on a New Delhi bus on December 16, 2012.

Hundreds of thousands of Indians, appalled by the brutality of the attack, streamed into the streets to demand that India’s government provide security and protection for women.

The 23-year-old student was severely beaten and suffered massive organ damage. She died from her injuries on December 29 en route to a specialized hospital in Singapore. Her father, Badri Singh Pandey, 53, decided to make his daughter’s name public to give strength to other victims.

All across India, the outcry sparked by the murder shows no signs of lessening. The rare national upheaval decrying violence against women has prompted promises of action from a government that has been clumsy at best in responding to public outrage.

Photo: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

Protect and Serve?

A policeman wields his baton against a demonstrator near the presidential palace in New Delhi on December 22, 2012. Indian police used batons, tear gas and water cannon to turn back thousands of people marching on the presidential palace in protests triggered by the rape and grievous injuries. According to a friend of the 23-year-old Jyoti Singh Pandey, the police did not respond anywhere near so quickly or decisively to help the victim after the attack.

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Assault on a Government Crackdown

A demonstrator breaks the windshield of a police vehicle as others shout slogans in front of the India Gate during a protest in New Delhi, December 23, 2012. A week after the attack on Jyoti Singh Pandey, protests had intensified on the streets and on social media. The Indian government attempted to stamp out the demands, banning gatherings of more than five people.

Photo: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

Pushing to be Heard

Police surround demonstrators as they shout slogans and carry signs during a protest rally in New Delhi on December 27, 2012. Several hundred people gathered in India’s capital in a bid to rekindle mass protests over the gang rape and ferocious beating that left a 23-year-old woman dying. The government moved to form a committee on how to better protect women.

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Carrying the Victim Home

Men carry the coffin of Jyoti Singh Pandey into a van as they leave a funeral parlor for the airport in Singapore on December 29, 2012. While flying to a Singapore hospital specializing in organ transplants, Pandey succumbed to injuries inflicted during a heinous rape on a moving private bus in Delhi, India. The official cause of death was septicemia and multiple organ failures, according to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Photo: Edgar Su/Reuters

Lawmakers Under Heat

Demonstrators prepare to burn portraits of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, a lawmaker and son of India’s ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, during a protest in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad following news of the Jyoti Singh Pandey’s death in Singapore. The inability of police to stop protests prompted a security lockdown in New Delhi.

Photo: Amit Dave/Reuters

Saying It All

A mourner with a gag tied around her mouth takes part in a silent protest for a gang rape victim in New Delhi. In 2011, India was ranked by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the world’s fourth most-dangerous country for women, behind Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan. Health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, cultural or religious factors, lack of access to resources and trafficking are the risks considered when ranking overall danger to women.

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Signs of Change

Women hold placards as they march during a rally organized by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit (unseen) protesting for justice and security for women, in New Delhi, January 2, 2013.

On January 1, 2013, the ashes of the Indian student Jyoti Singh Pandey, who died after being gang-raped, had been scattered in the sacred Ganges River at the village of Bharauli, 600 miles east of Delhi.

Five men—Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur—and one juvenile have been charged with murder, rape and kidnapping. The trial could be complicated: Bar association members have refused to represent the accused on moral grounds.

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

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Andrew Freeman is a California native with a degree in history from UCLA. He’s covered a wide range of topics for TakePart, but is particularly interested in politics and policy. Email Andrew |@natureofdabeast | TakePart.com

India Gang Rape: Scenes of Rage; Seeds of Change

Vigil Against Violence

Photo: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

Protect and Serve?

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Assault on a Government Crackdown

Photo: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

Pushing to be Heard

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Carrying the Victim Home

Photo: Edgar Su/Reuters

Lawmakers Under Heat

Photo: Amit Dave/Reuters

Saying It All

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Signs of Change

Photo: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

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