Protesters rally in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad to mourn the victim of a vicious gang rape who has died nearly two weeks after she was attacked. Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/Reuters

Indian police charged six men with murder on Saturday, hours after a woman who was gang-raped and thrown from a moving bus in Delhi nearly two weeks ago died in a Singapore hospital.

Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six will face the death penalty if convicted.

The announcement came as thousands of Indians gathered to mourn and protest the death of the 23-year-old medical student. The woman, who has not been named, sustained serious internal injuries after being violated with an iron barduring the attack, which took place on 16 December and triggered mass demonstrations calling for better protection for women against sexual violence.

She died late on Friday in the Singapore hospital where she was being treated.

Amid an outpouring of anger and sorrow in cities across the nation, large numbers of police were deployed in Delhi to prevent demonstrators reaching parliament, the president’s residence and the India Gate war memorial. The official residences of ministers, top officials and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress party, were also heavily guarded and metro stations were shut.

President Pranab Mukherjee said the victim was “a true hero and symbolises the best in Indian youth and women”. He called on “everyone to maintain peace and calm”.

Silent demonstrations are being planned in most major cities of India. Media have dubbed the woman “Braveheart” and “India’s daughter”.

The case has provoked calls for the chemical castration of rapists and even public hanging. The government has set up a commission to recommend new measures. One is likely to be the publication on the internet of a registry of sex offenders. Others include fast-track courts and a higher proportion of women police officers.

“We have already seen the emotions and energies this incident has generated. These are perfectly understandable reactions from a young India and an India that genuinely desires change,” prime minister Manmohan Singh said.

Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of Delhi, said that she felt ashamed “not just as [chief minister], but as a citizen of India”.

In one incident reported this week, police jeered and laughed when a 17-year-old in Patiala, in the north-western state of Punjab, attempted to report a gang rape. She later committed suicide. Two officers have now been sacked and one suspended.

The victim in the Delhi case is from a modest family from the north of India who sold their ancestral land to fund her medical training.

She was returning from watching a film at 9pm when she and her 28-year-old male friend accepted a lift in the bus. Public transport in Delhi is grossly inadequate and though the wealthy can afford cars, usually chauffeur-driven, few others can.

via India gang rape: six men charged with murder | World news | guardian.co.uk.

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