The inmates of coastal district central prisons of Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam observed a five-minute silence in the memory of the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim.

DIG Prisons Narasimham Rao today said the inmates of the Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam central prisons observed silence for five minutes last evening, as a mark of grief towards the demise of the Delhi braveheart.

The prisoners condemned attack on girls while condoling the death of the 23-year-old victim, who died last month at a hospital in Singapore while undergoing treatment for the injuries she sustained following the rape and brutal assault on her by six men in a moving bus in Delhi.

The inmates demanded severe punishment for the culprits and enforcement of powerful laws to control such menace in the country.

"Stringent action should be initiated against the culprits. The action should be a lesson to other criminals who indulge in such heinous crime," the inmates said.

They said every individual should condemn such crimes and force the government to take severe action against criminals involved in them.