UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi has taken a serious note of the Sunday night's gangrape in Delhi and has written strong-worded letters to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit. In her letter, Mrs Gandhi said, it is a matter of shame that such incidents happen with painful regularity. She also visited Safdarjung Hospital last night to inquire about the condition of the 23-year-old student who is in a critical state after she was gang raped and brutally beaten in a moving bus in South Delhi. Mrs Gandhi sought the strictest possible measures to ensure that there is no recurrence of such a barbaric crime. This was disclosed by Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi. The condition of the victim deteriorated last evening after which she was put on full-time ventilator support.

Earlier in the day, both Houses of Parliament expressed shock and outrage over the incident. Members, cutting across party lines, made strong demands for capital punishment to perpetrators of such crimes. Mr. Shinde informed Rajya Sabha that the case will be tried by a fast-track court.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit urged the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to immediately make functional five special fast track courts to try cases of assault on women as approved by her government.

Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to Home Ministry and Delhi Police and sought a report on the incident within two weeks.
Delhi Police said that four persons have been arrested in this connection. The Driver of the bus Ram Singh has been remanded to five days in police custody.