At Delhi Protest Ground, Talk of Causes Behind Violence Against Women

Anjani Trivedi for The New York TimesA candlelight vigil at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, on Saturday.

The body of the 23-year-old victim of a fatal gang rape in New Delhi this month was returned to India from Singapore early Sunday, as calls for government action and protests in response to the attack continued to rouse people across India.

Airport security sources say the plane arrived in the cargo area of New Delhi International Airport at 4:15 a.m. and that the body was whisked away through the old domestic terminal, known as the Palam side.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of the governing Congress party, received the body along w ith senior police officials amid growing public pressure on the government machinery.

Later in the morning, her family held a private ceremony at a crematorium in southwest New Delhi, the local news media reported. In attendance at the ceremony, which was closed to the news media, were family, friends and a handful of politicians. Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of Delhi who was booed away by protesters at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, was spotted leaving the crematorium, a Reuters report said. There was heavy police deployment at the crematorium during the funeral.

People trickled in and out of Jantar Mantar late into Saturday night â€" chanting, singing, mourning silently, praying and performing Hindu rituals around a fire.

The crowds had visibly thinned since the morning, and groups sat in circles at the popular central Delhi protest spot. Even leaving aside the police officers and all-male riot squads, a large part of the gathering was men, young and old.

The attack on the unidentified young woman, a medical student who died at a Singapore hospital on Saturday after being gang-raped Dec. 16 on a moving bus in Delhi, has led to calls for tougher laws and better policing to prevent violence against women in India. It is also prompting deeper discussions about the root causes of an apparent increase in this violence.

One young man, who came to Jantar Mantar with his 54-year-old mother, said the problem in India is in the numbers. “There are too many people in this country â€" 1.3 billion,” said Shekhar Mahajan, 34. “Life becomes a struggle and it's the survival of the fittest here. There is growing frustration and economic disparities.†

Mr. Mahajan, a consultant based in Delhi, said that while female beauty is appreciated worldwide, lechery is explicit in India.  This, he said, is rooted in inequality and a lack of social awareness.

Anjali Tripathi, 38, a homemaker, said that problems begin at home. “From the very grass-root, the mothers have to educate their sons,” she said. Mrs. Tripathi said she brought her teenage daughter to the protests, to try to “educate her” about rape.

Many, like Mrs. Tripathi, came to Jantar Mantar with their families. Other women at the protest shared her view and emphasized the importance of strengthening value systems and ridding Indian households of gender biases.

Men spoke instead of frustration and envy. “This is a conservative society. There is sexual repression,” Amit Bagani, 32, said as he observed a group of silent mourners, who refused to speak to anyone.

A friend of Mr. Bagani's, Amul Vitthal, also 32, said, “Our society is divided into a thousand classes, there are huge disparities â€" like mentality and access to money â€" between these classes, but all these layers intermingle with each other with very different mind-sets.”

Both Mr. Bagani and Mr. Vitthal said that general lawlessness in the country, which allows people to commit crimes without fear of punishment, played a part.

The peaceful protest also saw some explicit Indian themes. A large group huddled around a man performing a ritualistic hawan, or prayer fire, and loudly chanting mantras. As protesters brought pieces of broken plywood to fuel the fire, he urged everyone to chant the common Gayatri Mantra and join in.

Rings of people shouted slogans like “We Want Justice” and “Vande Mataram” (Hail to the Motherland, a famous slogan from the freedom movement).  Some brought musical instruments, while others offered hot tea to the people who had decided to stay out on a winter night.

“We will suff er,” said Mr. Bagani. “This is our generation.”