Delhi rape: Severe punishment for culprits, says PM's wife

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur on Monday expressed outrage over the gang-rape of a young girl and said severe punishment should be meted out to the culprits.

She, at the same time, said any protest against the "ghastly" crime should be peaceful as it would yield more results than violent demonstrations.

The December 16 incident in a moving bus in New Delhi was a "very bad incident" and that she was at loss of words in expressing her condemnation, she said.

"We all are very sad at this incident but if they (protests) are conducted in a peaceful manner, they will yield more results," Kaur told reporters on the sidelines of the release of a book 'Sikh Heritage Ethos and Relics' here.

"This is a horrible crime...Such incident need to be condemned in the strongest possible way," she said.

Kaur said severe punishment needed to be handed down to the accused and that there was a need for fast-track courts to deal with such cases.