India rape victim’s body cremated in New Delhi

Indian residents Meena Rai (L) and Usharai (R) – neighbours of a gangrape victim – stand with police personnel outside a cremation ground in New Delhi on December 30, 2012, after a cremation ceremony. The victim of a gang-rape and murder which triggered an outpouring of grief and anger across India was cremated at a private ceremony, hours after her body was flown home from Singapore. AFP/SAJJAD HUSSAIN

NEW DELHI—The body of a young woman who was gang-raped and brutally beaten on a moving bus in India’s capital has been cremated.

Indian police have charged six men with murder in the attack, which shocked the country and triggered protests for greater protection for women from sexual violence.

The murder charges were laid Saturday, hours after the woman died in a Singapore hospital, where she had been flown for treatment.

Her body was cremated in a private ceremony Sunday in New Delhi soon after its arrival from Singapore on a special Air-India flight.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, were at the airport to receive the body and meet family members of the victim who had also arrived on the flight.