India's government, facing swelling protests over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed on Friday to press for life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.
Home Secretary R.K. Singh also said the government would pay the medical bills of the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack, who is fighting for her life after suffering serious injuries to her intestines.
"We will ask for the maximum punishment of life imprisonment and ask the court for the speedy trial of the accused," Singh said as New Delhi and other cities continued to be swept by an unprecedented wave of demonstrations by women demanding better safety.
Six drunken men were joyriding on a bus when they picked up the physiotherapy student and her 28-year-old male companion and took turns raping her. Afterwards, they threw the pair off the speeding vehicle.
Police say the woman was attacked with an iron rod after being raped.
Experts say a combination of abusive sexual behaviour, a scant fear of the law and India's creaky judicial system encourage such attacks in the bustling city of 19 million people.
Late Friday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that all six accused had now been apprehended after a search for the last remaining suspect.
Public in India are asking for maximum punishment of life imprisonment, hear in UK rapist would have got away with suspended sentence.
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