India executes four men convicted of 2012 Delhi gang rape

As the smoke clears following the violent communal riots in New Delhi, stories have emerged of Muslim and Hindu neighbors helping each other as mobs vandalized their communities.

The men had delayed their execution four times after their conviction for raping and murdering a woman on a New Delhi bus in 2012. The case sparked a debate over capital punishment and women's safety in India.

Indians react to the banning of popular Chinese app TikTok as New Delhi's ties with Beijing deteriorate sharply following a deadly border clash.

The victim, a 19-year-old Dalit woman, died earlier this week from injuries sustained during an alleged gang rape by four upper-caste men. Local police have been accused of mishandling the investigation.

This week we begin by looking at South Korea's strategy against Covid-19. It has been widely praised as effective against the virus but is it corrosive to personal freedoms? Next we see how monks are racing to save a Buddhist temple from rising waters in Thailand. The result of failed economic planning at the cost of the local environment. Finally, we head to India where the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of aggressive monkeys in New Delhi. We will look at how innovative solutions such as facial recognition are being used to deal with the problem.

"When the vaccine comes, I’m ready. I’m ready to take a shot," says one man in India's capital, New Delhi after two Covid-19 vaccines were approved for use, kicking off one of the world's biggest inoculation drives. India, which has the second highest number of registered cases worldwide, authorised the use of shots developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University as well as by local pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech.

In a crime that shocked the nation, the men raped a woman in front of her two children after she ran out of fuel on a highway.

The capital is the worst-hit city in India, with new infections threatening to overload the health care system. The country as a whole has reported another record daily rise in cases.

Cars line up outside a shopping mall in India's capital New Delhi where a drive-thru clinic has been set-up to administer Covid-19 vaccines. Demand is far outstripping supplies for jabs in India, with only 3.5 percent of the population fully vaccinated. "We’re vaccinating a little more than we were about 10 days ago, two weeks ago. We’ve crossed three million per day," says Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at India’s Ashoka University.

New Delhi's Central Vista used to be a favourite spot with residents of the Indian capital. But the large public space, close to the president's house and heritage buildings, is being remodelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The €2 billion construction caused uproar when it was deemed an "essential service" at a time when Indians were dying by the thousands from Covid-19. The move reopened debate around heritage conservation and public spaces in India’s ancient capital. Our correspondents report.

Around 300 Afghan refugees in New Delhi shout slogans demanding human rights and resettlement by UN Agencies. The refugees say most of them have not received any help from the UN agencies in India. "We have nothing, no future, no education," says a 14-year-old Afghan refugee in India.

Much animosity has built up since India scrapped Kashmir's special status two years ago. DW spoke with several Kashmiris, many of whom have harsh feelings about the Indian government.