Gang-rape victim’s body to be brought back today

The body of the Delhi gang rape victim, who died on Saturday morning, will be flown to India by a special chartered aircraft this afternoon, Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, T.C.A. Raghavan said.

An Air India aircraft has been chartered by the government and sent to Singapore to bring back the body of the gang-rape victim and her family members, Air India officials said in New Delhi on Saturday.

The chartered plane, an Airbus A-319, left the IGI Airport at 0800 hours for Singapore and expected to return around 2000 hours on Saturday night, after taking off from there around 1700 hours local time, the officials added.

The aircraft is carrying some senior government officials, including those from the Union Home Ministry.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Raghavan said the formalities, including getting a death certificate, for sending her body were being completed. Once they are done, the body will be flown back.

Mr. Raghavan told reporters that the family of the girl including her parents will accompany the body and that the family is yet to decide about their plans for the last rites once the body reaches Delhi.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the members of the family of the girl,” he said.

The envoy said he has passed on the condolence message of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the family in which he had spoken of the desire to make India a demonstrably better and safe place for women to live in.

Mr. Raghavan said the High Commission has received numerous messages from various quarters including the Singapore government deeply mourning the death.

He appreciated the help extended by the Singapore Foreign Ministry, the government and the Mount Elizabeth Hospital for all their support in the last two days.

Replying to questions on the shifting of the girl from Delhi to Singapore, he said consultations were held between doctors of Safdarjung hospital and Mount Elizabeth Hospital and they must have given full thought to it before taking it.

Asked whether doctors felt that she could have died to her shift from Delhi to Singapore, Mr. Raghavan said “no such sentiments were expressed to me. Both the doctors (P.K. Verma of Safdarjung and Yatin Mehta of Medanta Medicity) said she was very badly injured in the assault of December 16 night”.

He said the best possible treatment was given to the girl in Delhi and in Singapore and the cause of her death was “the injuries she sustained”.

“All possible medical efforts were made to treat the injuries. The efforts were not successful in helping her to overcome the injuries,” he said.

Declining to go into the details of the family, he said they had requested that the privacy of their identity be protected.