Delhi gang-rape victim's funeral held

A young Indian woman who died after being gang-raped on a bus has been cremated in the capital, Delhi.

The ceremony came hours after a plane chartered by the Indian government brought her body back to the city.

The woman - a medical student whose identity has not been released - and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area of Delhi, intending to travel to Dwarka in the south-west of the city.

Friends told the AFP news agency the couple were in a relationship and had been planning to marry in the next few weeks.

According to the reports, the couple were attacked after the man objected to another group of men taunting her.

Police said the woman was raped for nearly an hour. Both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars, then thrown out of the moving bus into the street.

The 23-year-old medical student died in a Singapore hospital where she was being treated for severe injuries.

The Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore said the woman "passed away peacefully" early on Saturday.

Hospital chief executive Kelvin Loh said she had suffered severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain.

The attack sparked two weeks of protests about gender attitudes in India, and calls for changes to laws on rape and violence against women.

On Saturday evening, candlelit vigils were held across India to mourn the woman and express anger and sorrow at her death.

Large areas of Delhi were sealed off and hundreds of armed police and riot troops deployed as news of the victim's death spread.

Protests continued in Delhi on Sunday, with a peaceful demonstration where people painted slogans and tributes on a large white canvas.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the head of India's governing Congress party Sonia Gandhi were at the airport when the plane landed at about 04:15 (22:45 GMT).

Indian PM Mr Singh has said he was "very saddened" by the woman's death, and that the angry public reaction was "perfectly understandable".

He called on politicians and the public to set aside "narrow sectional interest" and work together to make India "a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in".

A convoy carrying a gold-coloured coffin and the victim's parents then drove towards the Janakpuri district of Delhi where she had been living.

The private funeral was held amid tight security.

The BBC reports that the government has been heavily criticised for its response to the attack and remains anxious about a backlash, with police still cordoning off the heart of the capital to prevent demonstrations.

Gandhi has promised to fight what she called India's shameful social mindsets that lie behind such crimes.

Six men arrested for the 16 December rape have been charged with murder. If convicted, they face the death penalty.