Police call for death penalty after Delhi bus rape

NEW DELHI (AFP) - New Delhi's police chief on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for rapists amid growing outrage over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a school bus in the city.

The physiotherapy student and her male companion were brutally beaten and thrown off the vehicle after the attack, which has provoked street protests and widespread anger over the treatment of women in India.

"We will seek the most severe punishment of life imprisonment for the culprits and we will send a proposal to the government for the death sentence for rapists," New Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar told reporters.

Rape currently carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, while the death penalty is restricted to rare cases of murder and "waging war against the country".