'This was not rape, it was murder'

'There have been rape victims in the past, but we have never seen such serious injuries.'

Priyanka reports on the condition of the rape victim whose condition deteriorated on Tuesday evening.

The condition of the 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi on Sunday night deteriorated on Tuesday evening, doctors attending to her at Safdarjung Hospital said.

Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr B D Athani told Rediff.com, "She was doing okay and her condition was improving in the morning, but it started deteriorating in the evening. She has now been put on full ventilation support."

"We are doing everything we can," he said.

Dr Athani held lengthy discussions with a panel of doctors, including the surgeons who operated on the victim, on Tuesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a doctor at the hospital said the physical injuries the young woman suffered were the gravest he had ever seen.

"There have been rape victims in the past, but we have never seen such serious injuries," he said.

The assailants assaulted her so badly that her intestines were damaged.

She underwent surgery on Tuesday morning.

"This was not rape, it was murder," the doctor observed, expressing deep anguish and shock.

The victim regained consciousness on Tuesday and she has been communicating with the doctors.

"She doesn't speak, but communicates with the doctors by writing things down," the doctor said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Smriti Irani met Dr Athani on Tuesday and enquired about the girl's condition.