Gang-rape victim's family want killers executed

Some people reading this news and say "That concerns me not, she's not my sister or my daughter". How cruel and inhuman to think that way.


Policemen block a road leading to the India Gate Monument on Dec 31, 2012. Photo: AFP


WILL NOT REST UNTIL HER KILLERS ARE HANGED!

NEW DELHI: The family of an Indian gang-rape victim said they would not rest until her killers are hanged as they spoke of their own pain and trauma over a crime that has united the country in grief.

As the ruling Congress party reportedly pushed for tougher punishments for sex crimes, including chemical castration, authorities in New Delhi launched a hotline to improve safety for women in a city dubbed "India's rape capital".

And while the country returned to work after a weekend marked by candlelit vigils and street protests following the 23-year-old's death, few people were in the mood to celebrate New Year. Even the army ordered a halt to its festivities.

The woman, whom friends say was planning to marry in February, died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, nearly two weeks after being savagely attacked by a group of men on a bus in New Delhi. She was cremated on Sunday.

In an interview published on Monday, her brother said that although the unidentified medical student could now rest in peace, the family would not relent in their fight for justice.

"The fight has just begun. We want all the accused hanged and we will fight for that, till the end," he told The Indian Express.

Six men are facing murder charges after allegedly luring the woman onto a bus in New Delhi on December 16, and then taking it in turns to rape her and assault her with an iron bar before throwing her out of the moving vehicle.

The man whom she was hoping to marry was also left with serious injuries after he too was attacked and dumped on the roadside. His father told the same newspaper that his son would be "in pain throughout his life".

The 28-year-old attended the cremation on Sunday and has taken part in an identification parade for suspects at New Delhi's Tihar jail, relatives said.

Source: AFP

Nigerian Islamists slit throats of 15 Christians

When will violence stop? Can't people of different faiths live side by side without hurting the other?


Violence linked to Boko Haram in northern and central Nigeria has left some 3,000 people dead since 2009. Photo: Afolabi Sotunde.

Suspected Islamist extremists have killed 15 Christians by slitting their throats in an attack on a village in Nigeria's volatile northeast, residents and a relief source said on Sunday.

The gruesome violence was the latest to be blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, though this Christmas season has been notably less bloody than in 2011, when attacks on churches and other locations left scores dead.


They were killed in their sleep

"From the information we gathered, the attackers broke into selected homes and slaughtered 15 people in their sleep," the relief official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

Authorities had previously confirmed the predawn Friday attack in Musari, but gave few details and said only five were killed. Musari is located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Boko Haram's base.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for a military task force in the area, told AFP on Sunday that he stood by the toll of five dead, adding that some were shot and others attacked with machetes.

Nigerian authorities tend to under-report death tolls however, and the relief official's information matched up with that of residents, who spoke of 15 people having their throats slit.

Speaking of the victims, the relief official said "they included one traffic warden and 14 civilians. The victims were selected because they were all Christians, some of whom had moved into the neighbourhood from other parts of the city hit by Boko Haram attacks."

Residents said they suspected the attackers were from Boko Haram.

"The attackers came in and silently went into homes whose residents were all Christians and slit the throats of their victims. They killed 15 people," one resident said.

An earlier military statement on the attack had said "unknown gunmen sneaked into Musari community ... and secretly carried out selective killings of five people including a serving Nigerian police traffic warden." - AFP

Source