Singapore:
The 23-year-old medical student from India who is being treated in Singapore has "a significant brain injury" and is "struggling against the odds", her doctors have said.
"Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection in her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury. The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life," said Dr Kelvin Loh, the CEO of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, in his latest statement.
The sobering medical bulletin comes a day after Amanat (NOT her real name) was flown out of Delhi on an air-ambulance. She was gang-raped on December 16 by six men in a moving bus; the monstrous assault has created a whirl of public outrage.
Singapore's Straits Times newspaper quoted an official who had spoken to her father and two brothers. "The father said he is reassured that the best is being done for his daughter and the rest lies in the hands of God," the source said.
The team of Indian doctors that flew with Amanat to Singapore on Wednesday night will return tonight in the air ambulance that took them there. They have handed over all details of the case to the doctors in Singapore. Amanat's parents will stay back with her in Singapore. The Indian High Commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan visited the hospital today and met the family.
Amanat's case has pushed thousands of students onto the streets in daily protests and compelled the government to urgently address the need for new laws to protect women as well as stiffer penalties for the worst sex crimes. Congress president Sonia Gandhi today spoke for the first time on the case, and said she hopes for urgent justice for the "barbarous act."
The government has also announced the setting up of a "name and shame" national database which posts names, photos and addresses of rapists on official websites.
(With inputs from agencies)