Indian gang-rape victim cremated in New Delhi, was due to marry

The victim of a gang-rape and murder that triggered an outpouring of grief and anger across India was cremated at a private ceremony on Sunday as it emerged she was planning to get married in February.

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Indians hold candlelit vigils to mourn the death of the 23-year-old gang rape victim during a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:35am, 30 Dec 2012Updated: 4:05pm, 30 Dec 2012

The victim of a gang-rape and murder that triggered an outpouring of grief and anger across India was cremated at a private ceremony on Sunday as it emerged she was planning to get married in February.

The unidentified 23-year-old, the focus of nationwide protests since she was brutally attacked on a bus in New Delhi two weeks ago, was cremated away from the public glare only hours after her body was repatriated from Singapore.

The funeral pyre was lit after traumatised relatives and friends said their final prayers at a ceremony in southwestern Delhi, according to mourners who revealed she had been due to wed a boyfriend who was injured in the same attack.

“They had made all the wedding preparations and had planned a wedding party in Delhi” for February, said Meena Rai, who was a close friend and neighbour.

“I really loved this girl. She was the brightest of all.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the main ruling Congress party, were at Delhi airport to console her parents as they arrived home on a chartered plane with their daughter’s body at around 4am.