We have heard your voice, Sonia Gandhi tells protesters

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday said the government had heard the people's voice demanding an end to crime against women.

"I want to assure you that your voice has been heard," she said in a statement after the death of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim died in a Singapore hospital.

Sonia Gandhi said she was aware that people had taken to the streets in large numbers in support of the victim.

"As a woman and a mother," she said, she shared the "people's concerns" following the Delhi gang-rape and growing violence against women.

She urged the people to remain calm and "help strengthen our collective resolve" to stop such crimes.

Stating that the young woman's death won't go in vain, she said all Indians were grieving today.

"It is our resolve to fight with all our might and all the powers of our laws and administration for the safety and protection of all women of our country and to ensure swift and fitting punishment for the perpetrators of such brutal acts," Sonia Gandhi said.

"We pledge that she will get justice and that her fight will not have been in vain. All Indians grieve as though they have lost their own beloved daughter, their cherished sister. Our hearts go out to her parents and her family. The whole country shares their pain," she said.

She added that the government was determined "to battle the pervasive shameful social attitudes and mindsets" that allow men to rape and molest women and girls with such impunity.