Indian police ban protests over bus gang-rape case in central Delhi

Indian police have banned protests in central New Delhi following a wave of violent demonstrations over the savage gang-rape of a medical student last weekend.

A protester points at police at a demonstration in New Delhi yesterday. Indian police have banned protests and marches against the violent gang-rape of a woman on a bus last week.
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NEW DELHI // Indian police have banned protests in central New Delhi following a wave of violent demonstrations over the savage gang-rape of a medical student last weekend, an official statement said.

Areas close to the president's residence and the parliament have been declared off-limits to protesters, the statement said, a day after police tear-gassed, baton-charged and fired water cannon on demonstrators.

Thousands of protesters, most of them college students, rallied at the India Gate monument in the heart of the Indian capital on Saturday, demanding death penalty for the accused and better safety for women.

Earlier this morning, police cordoned off all the routes leading to landmark government buildings and said that they had detained a group of protesters citing the prohibitory orders.

“We are here to protest a heinous crime. We have the right to protest,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted one of the protesters.

Six drunk men were joyriding in a bus when they assaulted the physiotherapy student. During her ordeal the victim suffered serious intestinal injuries from being beaten with an iron rod.

The attack has triggered calls to introduce capital punishment for rapists, and the government has said it is considering bringing in legislation to allow judges to hand down the death penalty for the most extreme assaults.