The male friend of the deceased New Delhi rape victim — whose story has brought international attention to Delhi's rape problem — has opened up to the media for the first time on Friday.

In an exclusive interview with Zee News, the friend and only witness to the crime explained his account of what happened. His assessment of the police's response is telling.

Here's an excerpt from the Zee News story:

The victim’s friend rued the fact that three PCR vans arrived at the scene after about 45 minutes, but wasted time in deciding under which police station’s jurisdiction the case fell.

He said nobody, including the police, gave them clothes or called an ambulance. “They were just watching us,” he said, adding that after repeated requests, someone gave him a part of a bed sheet to cover his friend.

“My friend was bleeding profusely; I was more concerned about her. But instead of taking us to a nearby hospital, they (police) took us to a hospital (Safdarjung) that was far away.”

The victim’s friend said that he carried his badly injured friend to the PCR van on his own as “the policemen didn’t help us because my [girlfriend] was bleeding profusely and they were probably worried about their clothes”.

The man added that the police wanted him to publicly state that he believed they were doing a good job.

The New Delhi Police plan to sue Zee News for publishing the interview, according to The New York Times "India Ink" blog.

Section 228 (A) of the Indian Penal Code makes illegal the disclosure of the identity of victims of certain crimes.