"After her internship, she would have got a job. And that would have been a great help to our family," said the brother, himself a student.

The family is still struggling with the traumatic loss, he said, and feels that recent protests in several Indian cities in response to the attack are justified.

"You need these protests to bring about a change in laws. And laws should be made so tough that nobody should even think of committing such crimes. Rapists deserve death sentence," he said.