SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI, Dec 27:
The 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim, who was flown in an air ambulance from India early this morning, was in an extremely critical condition at the super specialty Mount Elizabeth Hospital here.
A bulletin issued this evening by the hospital said: “As at 7pm (4.30pm IST) the patient remains in an extremely critical condition. She is under treatment at Mount Elizabeth Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.”
“A multi-disciplinary team of specialists is taking care of her and doing everything possible to stabilise her condition,” said Dr Kelvin Loh, Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
The 373-bed multi-organ transplant specialty hospital was established in 1973. One of the leading hospitals in Asia, it is known for kidney and heart transplants and receives patients from across the globe because of its state-of-the-art facilities for highly-complicated surgeries.
The young woman, who was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus on December 16, withstood the six-hour flight from Delhi from where she was brought in an air ambulance this morning.
Earlier, the Indian High Commission in Singapore said that the plane carrying the girl landed at the Changi International Airport here at 7.30am (5am IST). She was accompanied by her parents and a team of doctors.
The hospital and the High Commission have requested complete privacy for the patient, the parents and the doctors treating the victim.
“We have received numerous queries regarding the condition of the patient and also many offers of help. We are deeply grateful for all of these offers,” the Indian mission said in a statement.
“At this stage, we would request that the privacy of the patient, family members as also of the medical team in attendance is fully respected so that the treatment may continue smoothly,” the statement said.
The Indian mission has also assigned a liaison officer to the girl’s parents.
The parents are accommodated in a hotel with 24-hour attachment of a liaison officer, a High Commission official told reporters.
In New Delhi, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Government would spare no effort for the treatment of the victim and it would meet all the costs for her treatment.
“We are all aware of the critical condition of victim. Since the day of the incident, it has been our endeavour to provide her the best of medical care. Despite the best efforts of our doctors, the victim continues to be critical and her fluctuating health remains a big cause of concern to all of us,” he said in a statement.
New Delhi, a parliamentary panel today questioned the Delhi Police chief over the gang-rape incident in the capital and said deficiencies like vacancies at officer level and lack of vehicles to patrol the streets existed.
Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home to face questions on ‘growing atrocities against women in Delhi’.
Home Secretary R K Singh, who was also to appear before the panel, could not attend the meeting.
Kumar informed the panel about the sequence of events of the incident and said the police control room vans reacted “promptly” after receiving the phone call about the crime.
He is learnt to have told the committee that police investigations helped nab the accused within days of the December 16 gang-rape.
During the course of the Police Commissioner’s deposition, Congress member Sandeep Dikshit, who had recently demanded the resignation of Kumar in the wake of police action against protesters on Sunday, is understood to have said there was a disconnect between officers sitting in rooms and those on the ground.
He said that officials below Station House Officer rank act on their own giving little regard to orders from superiors.
Dikshit is the son of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who had been demanding that the Delhi Police be brought under the control of the city Government. The Delhi Police is under the direct control of the Home Ministry.
Rape trials must end within two months as stipulated under law, the Supreme Court has said directing trial courts to “strictly adhere” to existing norms while asking them to rule out the possibility of “manoeuvring” through undue long adjournments.
A bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Fakkir Mohammed Ibrahim Kalifulla gave their judgement on December 6, 10 days before the Delhi gang-rape which triggered nation-wide outrage with strong demands for fast-tracking of rape cases.
The apex court’s verdict came while dismissing the appeal of a man convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the offences of murder and robbery.
The convict, Akil, along with two others in October 1998 while robbing a woman of her cash and jewellery at gunpoint inside her home at Maujpur here had shot her friend when he had objected to the accused’s attempt to molest her.
“We issue directions in light of the provisions contained in Section 231 (evidence for prosecution) read along with section 309 (power to postpone or adjourn proceedings) of CrPC for the trial court to strictly adhere to the procedure prescribed therein in order to ensure speedy trial of cases.
“And also rule out the possibility of any manoeuvring taking place by granting undue long adjournments for mere asking,” the bench said in its 37-page judgement.
Section 309 of the CrPC provides that in every inquiry or trial the proceedings should be held as expeditiously as possible and once the examination of witnesses begins the same shall be continued on a day-to-day basis till all the witnesses are examined.
The apex court also noted that in cases that come under Section 376 (rape) and related offences under Sections 376 A to D of the IPC, the CrPC stipulates that “the inquiry or trial shall, as far as possible, be completed within a period of two months from the date of commencement of the examination of witnesses.”
The apex court made the observations in the case after it found that the trial court had granted a two-month-long adjournment in the case after which one of the witnesses had turned hostile during his cross-examination.(PTI)
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