Rapes provoke street protests in India

Dozens of girls marched through New Delhi this week after a 20-year-old college student was raped by four men in a car before being dumped on the road.

The incident caused a furore in parliament where the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the home minister's resignation after city police failed to take action despite being informed within 15 minutes of the girl's abduction.

"More women are killed or injured in sexual assault than through terrorism. Yet, how often have you seen the issue debated in parliament or figuring on political agendas?" leading activist Brinda Karat told the Times of India.

Angry residents in Bombay also took to the streets after a drunk policeman raped a girl in daylight on a beachfront boulevard in the city, considered India's safest for women.

Delhi women demanded night roadside food stalls be closed, saying they were a meeting point for no-gooders and spawned crimes such as kidnapping and rape.