Students, Bollywood actresses and women's groups held rallies and candlelight vigils across India on Monday in memory of a young woman whose fatal gang rape on a moving bus one year ago shook the nation's conscience. 
 
 Flowers and candles are placed near a placard reading: “Damini”, a symbolic name given to a gang-raped victim, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. The victim, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student,... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Indian woman adjusts her head scarf in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013 during a protest to pay tribute to a victim who was gang-raped on a bus on Dec. 16 last year which led to the woman’s... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Indian girl places candles to commemorate last year’s gang rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013. Public anger against crimes against women exploded after a fatal... (Associated Press) 
 
 A young Indian woman holds a candle as she joins others in commemorating last year’s gang rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013. Public anger against crimes against... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Indian woman places flowers on the floor reading "Condolence to Damini," a symbolic name given to a gang rape victim, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. The victim, a 23-year-old physiotherapy... (Associated Press) 
 
 Indians light candles as they commemorate last year’s gang rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013. Public anger against crimes against women exploded after a fatal... (Associated Press) 
 
 The victim, a 23-year-old student, was heading home with a male friend after watching the movie "Life of Pi" when six men lured them onto a private bus. They beat the man with a metal bar, raped the woman and used the bar to inflict massive internal injuries. 
 
 The two were dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman died two weeks later. 
 
 Protesters and politicians at a public meeting in New Delhi spoke of changes in social attitudes, tough new laws and police reform adopted after the massive street protests that followed the gang rape. 
 
 In New Delhi, Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar led a group of musicians on a bus that performed street plays at several places along the same route taken by the rape victim's bus. 
 
 In central Delhi, a candlelight vigil was held by dozens of students in memory of Nirbhaya, or "fearless," the name given by the Indian media to the woman because rape victims cannot be identified under Indian law. Prayers were held in a temple in a southern suburb. 
 
 The attack sparked protests across the country. Tens of thousands of people held daily rallies, and newspapers gave intense coverage. The outrage spurred the government to adopt more stringent laws that doubled prison terms for rape and criminalized voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women. Fast-track courts were created for rape cases. 
 
 Rape, rarely talked about in India's deeply conservative society, became front-page news, with demands that police do more to protect women and that courts treat sexual violence seriously. 
 
 Nirbhaya's assailants were tried relatively quickly in a country where sexual assault cases often languish for years. 
 
 Four of the defendants were sentenced to death. Another hanged himself in prison, though his family insists he was killed. An 18-year-old who was a juvenile at the time of the attack was sentenced to three years in a reform home. 
 
 There has been a surge in the number of rapes being reported: Between January and October this year, 1,330 rapes were reported in Delhi and its suburbs, compared with 706 for all of 2012, according to government figures. 
 
 But the victim's father said that although laws on crimes against women have changed, Indians need to change social attitudes toward women. 
 
 "Social mindsets have to change. Only then can we say a difference has been made. Only then can I say my daughter did not die in vain," he told the public meeting. ||||| We ask if the 2012 rape and murder of a New Delhi student changed attitudes in a land that has long favoured its sons. 
 
 The first anniversary of a fatal gang rape in India has been stirring fresh debate on women's rights. 
 
 The savage sexual assault in December 2012 shook the nation, and the world, setting in motion nationwide protests and much soul-searching about attitudes towards women. 
 
 The 23-year-old victim suffered appalling injuries at the hands of six men, after being attacked on a bus while travelling home with a friend. 
 
 I do not feel so unsafe in travelling in busses, or walking, anymore. I have developed confidence in the people around, not much in the security forces but in the people around me … I would say [that] what has happened is that people have come out to the streets … there has been an expression that this cannot go on, and I think that is now contributing to women like me, even younger women, to start to feel a little more confident that they can protest against harassment, and they expect that people will understand and will support. Sehjo Singh, the director of programmes and policy at ActionAid India 
 
 She died 13 days after her terrifying ordeal in India's capital, New Delhi. Prosecutors said it was an assault that shocked India's collective conscience. Women's groups spoke out about what they called a rape epidemic, and a widespread sense of impunity, in the country. 
 
 Four of those convicted were later sentenced to death by hanging. 
 
 The government has since passed tough new laws, carrying a minimum 20-year sentence for rape, and making stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment a crime. 
 
 Twelve months on, it has also introduced fast-track courts for rape cases, and vigils have been held across the capital. Campaigners, rights activists and supporters prayed and lit candles. But there have been mixed emotions. 
 
 "I don't think things have changed. It's just that women are less fearful of saying what's happening. I still feel scared to go out beyond 11 at night." one woman told Al Jazeera. 
 
 Another protester said: "I am here today because I have a mother, a sister, a sister-in-law, a girlfriend, who are not safe. In the days to come, my wife-to-be will not be safe and neither will my [future] daughter. Because in this country, where a rape occurs every 20 minutes, no woman can be safe." 
 
 But commenting on the new laws, Naresh Agrawal, a leader of India's regional Samajwadi Party, said: "We are not in the favour of this bill. We talk about the safety and security of women, but the way the bill has included stalking, staring and other small crimes to be punishable as non-bailable offences, it seems that the society is being divided by them." 
 
 And Farooq Abdullah, India's new and renewable energy minister, added: "Today we feel scared to even talk to a girl; such is the condition right now. Now I feel none of us is going to employ a female secretary, because god forbids, if such a complaint is lodged against us, we would be imprisoned." 
 
 One of the hopes is that the publicity generated by the 2012 attack will embolden women to speak out. As such, the police say they expect to see a rise in the number of reported cases. 
 
 The National Crime Records Bureau says the number of reported rapes almost doubled from 706 in 2012 to 1,330 in the first nine months of this year, and cases of sexual assault quadrupled in the same period, to 2,844. 
 
 
 
 Looking further back, reported cases of rape rose by more than 50 percent between 2001 and 2012, but the conviction rate dropped from 41 percent to just 24 percent. 
 
 So, one year on, has the shocking rape and murder of a young woman helped change attitudes in a land that has long favoured its sons? Can perceptions casting women as the weaker sex be successfully challenged? And in a land of 1.2 billion people, is real progress being made? 
 
 To discuss this, Inside Story, with presenter Sohail Rahman, is joined by guests: Sehjo Singh, the director of programmes and policy at ActionAid India; Srila Roy, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Nottingham, and author of books on gender violence; and Rajeev Awasthi, a lawyer in India's supreme and high courts. 
 
 "I think after the Delhi rape case there was a tendency ... to talk of it as a specifically Indian problem … media seem to present it as a uniquely Indian problem, or a problem of Indian culture, and then question why are Indian men raping Indian women, and obviously that is a very dangerous discourse, because we all know that violence against women is a global phenomenon … What I would say [is] it isn’t exceptional to the Indian context but in every context." - Srila Roy, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Nottingham 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sanjoy Majumder reports on the release of the youngest of the rapists 
 
 The youngest convict in the notorious 2012 Delhi gang rape case has been released from a correctional centre, his lawyer has told the BBC. 
 
 Legal challenges failed to prevent the release. The victim's parents were among those detained later at a rally. 
 
 The rapist, who cannot be named as he was a minor at the time of the crime, was sentenced to a maximum three years in a reform facility in August 2013. 
 
 The rape and the subsequent death of the woman caused global outrage. 
 
 Although the convict is now an adult, he was tried as a juvenile and has served the full sentence allowed. 
 
 He has now been handed over to a charity, where he will remain because of fears over his safety. 
 
 Four adult convicts in the case are appealing against death sentences. A fifth died in prison. 
 
 Rape victim named by mother 
 
 Profiles: Delhi attackers 
 
 How life changed for victim's family 
 
 Second chance for rapist? 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Asha Singh, the mother of the victim, was among those detained at a protest 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Legal challenges were mounted to keep the convict in jail 
 
 Supreme Court 
 
 The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the release has been opposed by many people, including the parents of the victim. 
 
 They were prevented from holding a protest rally in central Delhi earlier on Sunday and when they later joined scores of protesters near India Gate, they were among a number detained by police, who broke up the demonstration. 
 
 The convict's identity is being changed and no record of his crime will remain in the public domain, a move that has caused more outrage among many in India, our correspondent says. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder is at the scene as police break up a protest after the youngest of the Delhi gang rapists is freed 
 
 A legal challenge by politician Subramanian Swamy to stop the release failed. 
 
 A court ruled on the case on Friday, saying: "We agree it is a serious issue. But after 20 December, the juvenile cannot be kept at a special home per law." 
 
 Late on Saturday, Swati Maliwal, the head of Delhi Commission of Women, filed a petition to the Supreme Court trying to prevent the release. 
 
 It will hear the case on Monday, but the release went ahead anyway. 
 
 Rape victims cannot be named under Indian law, but last week the victim's mother, Asha Singh, revealed it at a public rally. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Protesters have kept up the pressure as the convicted men appeal against their death verdicts 
 
 After the release on Sunday, she said: "I just want justice, I want a stay on his release." 
 
 She said the Delhi Commission of Women had filed its petition too late on Saturday. "They might have been able to stop the release if they had tried during the day," the Times of India quoted her as saying. 
 
 Our correspondent says the laws dealing with sex crimes in India have been strengthened since this case began, but many believe this has not been enough to prevent attacks against women. 
 
 Case timeline 
 
 16 December 2012: A 23-year-old physiotherapy student is gang-raped by six men on a bus in Delhi, her male friend is beaten up and the pair are thrown out after the brutal assault 
 
 17 December: Key accused Ram Singh, the bus driver, is arrested. Over the next few days, his brother Mukesh Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, fruit seller Pawan Gupta, a helper on the bus Akshay Thakur, and the 17-year-old juvenile, who cannot be named, are arrested. 
 
 29 December: The victim dies in hospital in Singapore from injuries sustained during the assault; body flown back to Delhi 
 
 30 December: Cremated in Delhi under tight police security 
 
 11 March 2013: Ram Singh dies in Tihar jail; police say he hanged himself, but defence lawyers and his family allege he was murdered 
 
 31 August: The juvenile is found guilty and sentenced to three years in a reform facility 
 
 13 September: The four adult defendants are convicted and given the death penalty by the trial court 
 
 March - June: The convicts appeal in the Supreme Court and the death sentences are put on hold 
 
 20 December: Youngest convict released from correctional centre after serving maximum sentence allowed
– India today convicted three Nepalese men in the gang rape of an American tourist in a small Himalayan town, reports the Wall Street Journal, with each of the men drawing a 20-year prison term. The woman, then 30, now 31, was assaulted after accepting a ride back to her guesthouse from a truck driver, who, along with two other men, allegedly assaulted her and left her by the side of the road. The verdict comes down one day after the anniversary of the fatal gang rape aboard a New Delhi bus that catapulted rape into a major issue in India—and imposed a 20-year minimum sentence for it. There were protest rallies and candlelight vigils in memory of the event around the country yesterday, the AP reports. One Bollywood actress led a troupe of street performers and performed plays all along the fateful bus route. "I don't think things have changed," one protester told al-Jazeera. "It's just that women are less fearful of saying what's happening."