New Delhi:
Amanat's (NOT her real name) physical condition is no more promising than yesterday, say doctors attending on her, but she is "psychologically stable and positive." The young medical student, who has stirred India into furious protests against the government, remains in critical condition and is not out of danger, they said.
The doctors said the student has fever and is till on ventilator support, though she is conscious. She took a turn for the worse last night because of bleeding, they said. But despite her fragile health, she is "relatively composed," and has been counseled. Her parents too have been counseled, the doctors said, an important process. Amanat was travelling in a bus last weekend with a friend when the couple was beaten repeatedly with an iron rod; she was then raped by six men while the bus kept moving.
Large portions of Amanat's damaged intestine have been removed; she has been on and off the ventilator and has had many surgeries including one yesterday. Doctors had said yesterday that they were worried about her low platelet count, as she combats sepsis, a severe blood infection, which can lead to organ failure. Today, they said her platelet count had gone up after being given fresh plasma, blood and platelets.
Amanat is being fed intravenously with nutrients and extreme doses of antibiotics; and she has communicated with her family and the friend who was assaulted with her by alternating between scribbled messages and very short sentences.
As she fights for her life, a national cry of anguish and anger is demanding new laws to provide stiffer punishment for rapists, and a swift trial for the six men accused of raping her.
Protests led mainly by students in Delhi burst into violent clashes with the police over the weekend near India Gate. The government has been widely slammed for failing to connect with people - not a single representative of the government visited the demonstrators to reassure them that their concerns are understood and will be addressed. The Prime Minister spoke for the first time since Amanat's attack to the country via a televised address today, but provoked a new wave of rage online after he was heard asking the cameraperson "Theek hai (was that alright?)" at the end of his short speech.