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Indian police charge 5 in New Delhi gang rape

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:43:00 +0000

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have filed rape and murder charges against five men accused in the gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus last month.

Police say they plan to push for the death penalty in the case.

A sixth suspect is believed to be a juvenile and is expected to be tried in juvenile court.

The five were charged Thursday with raping the 23-year-old woman for hours and beating her companion as the bus drove through the capital. The woman died Saturday in a hospital in Singapore from massive internal injuries.

The case has sparked outrage and protests across the country demanding greater protection for women.

Rape protests in India turn violent

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:24:00 +0000

NEW DELHI (AP) - Police in India's capital used tear gas and water cannons for a second day Sunday in a high-security zone to break up protests by thousands of people demonstrating against the gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus.

Police chased angry protesters with batons as they fought pitched battles to try to get past steel barricades and a wall created by hundreds of policemen to reach the president's mansion to present their demands. "We want justice," they shouted.

Television footage showed that some protesters were injured in the clashes.

The demonstrations continued Sunday despite Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde promising to consider their main demand for death penalties for all six suspects who have been arrested by police following the Dec. 16 attack.

Shinde said Saturday night that the government was taking steps to better ensure the safety of women.

A group of protesters met Sonia Gandhi, the governing Congress party chief, and her son and lawmaker Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday and demanded a speedy trial of the suspects.

Popular yoga guru Babar Ramdev stood on the roof of a bus and pledged support to the protesters. "The government must set up fast-track courts to punish the offenders in rape attacks," he said.

Pirate threatens India after capture of 61 pirates

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Five dozen pirates living on a hijacked ship serving as a roving pirate base jumped into the Arabian Sea on Monday after the Indian navy fired on the vessel in self-defense, the navy said Monday.

The navy captured 61 pirates fleeing the battle and the fire that broke out aboard the hijacked vessel. The battle is the latest example of the piracy trade's turn toward increased violence.

A pirate in Somalia threatened Indian sailors and the government with targeted attacks in retaliation for the arrests.

The Indian navy said a patrol aircraft spotted the mothership Friday while responding to another vessel reporting a pirate attack. The pirates aborted the hijacking attempt and tried to escape on the mothership.

When the Indian ships closed in Sunday night, the pirates fired on them. The hijacked vessel caught fire when the Indian navy returned fire, the navy said.

The pirates had hijacked the Mozambique-flagged Vega 5 in December and had used it as a mothership. Indian sailors rescued 13 crew members from the Vega 5 Sunday night about 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) off Kochi in southern India, the statement said.

Plane crashes in India, 160 feared dead

Sat, 22 May 2010 03:40:00 +0000

An Air India plane arriving from Dubai crashed Saturday morning after it overshot a runway while trying to land in southern India, and officials feared as many as 160 people on board were killed.

Television images showed smoke rising from the aircraft at the airport in the city of Mangalore as rescuers struggled to reach those inside.

Officials in the state of Karnataka said of the 169 people believed to be on board, only six or seven might have survived.

"This is a major calamity," Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharya told CNN-IBN TV.

Firefighters were working to put out the flames, he said.

Seemant Singh, a police official at Mangalore airport, told NDTV that conditions at the airport were poor when the plane overshot the runway at about 6 a.m.