Delhi gangrape protest turns violent; protesters face tear gas, lathicharge

A 23-year-old girl was gangraped in a private moving bus between Munirka and Mahipalpur in south Delhi area on December 26, 2012.

Several police personnel of the Delhi Police have been severely injured in the violence that marred massive protests at the India Gate against the rape of 23-year-old student in a moving bus.

The protest for justice for gangrape victim continued at Jantar Mantar with a candlelight vigil attended by hundreds of people.

The crowds at Jantar Mantar included school and college students, people from the neighbourhood, and members of women's groups and NGOs.

The protesters shouted slogans demanding quick conviction of those arrested on charges of raping the 23-year-old para-medical student from Dehradun in a moving bus on December 16.

Holding placards, cloth banners and waving their fists in the air, the young and the old denounced the December 16 rape and raised slogans "Stop atrocities on women".

Women protesters alleged that they were manhandled by male police personnel though women police were present at the spot.

Since December 24 morning, police and paramilitary personnel laid siege to areas all around India Gate, where hundreds indulged in violence while seeking death to the rapists of the 23-year-old student.

The protesters upturned vehicles, smashed window panes of buses and other vehicles on policemen in response to tear gas and baton attacks to prevent them from marching towards Raisina Hills, where prohibitory orders were put in place.

The area was cordoned off and police reinforcements, including a contingent of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were rushed to the Hill that divides the North and South Block, which houses the Prime Minister's Office.

Some protesters indulged in violence as they stopped East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit at India Gate, heckled him and damaged his car as well as a government jeep ferrying officials and clashed with the police while trying to march towards Raisina Hills, where Rashtrapati Bhavan and key government ministries are located.

Vandals ripped apart the tin-sheets and broke the barricades erected for Republic Day crowd control.

The police chasing youngsters and beating them with canes, aired live by television channels, has led to widespread condemnation.

The mass outpouring for the young woman even overwhelmed the security men, who found themselves outnumbered.

Police use water cannons on demonstrators during a protest in front of India Gate on Sunday, December 23, 2012.

It, however, failed to dampen the spirits of the young people, demanding justice for the 23-year-old physiotherapist who was brutally raped by six men and was later stripped, beaten and thrown off the moving bus alongwith her boyfriend on the roadside.