Gang-rape victim's body cremated

Novice Buddhist monks light candles in remembrance of an Indian woman who died after being gang raped in a moving bus in Bodhgaya (AP)

Police stand guard outside a crematorium as the last rites for a 23-year-old rape victim are performed, in New Delhi, India (AP)

Published: 1:20pm, 28th December 2012
Updated: 6:07pm, 30th December 2012

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 following the attack, which shocked the country and triggered protests calling for greater protection for women from sexual violence.

The murder charges were laid on 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 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.