'Amanat' case: Fast track court to hear framing of charges against five accused

Defence lawyers in the Delhi gang-rape case will today argue on framing of charges at a fast track court in the Saket District Court complex in Delhi against the five accused who brutally gang-rape 'Amanat' (NOT her real name) on December 16 last year.

The trial in the case will begin once charges are framed against the five accused.

One of the five accused has claimed that he is below 18 years of age and should be tried in a juvenile court. As per police records, the gym instructor is 20 years old.

The court is likely to pass an order today, on whether a bone marrow test should be conducted on the fifth accused to determine his exact age.

The barbarous assault prompted weeks of angry protests by thousands of people in Delhi and other cities, who demanded swift justice for Amanat, faster trials for rape cases, and harsher punishment for sexual crimes.

The 23-year-old medical student and her boyfriend boarded the bus, after they were led to believe that it was a charter bus, used commonly in Delhi as public transport.  They were then assaulted with an iron rod before the men allegedly took turns raping her, the police says. The couple was later thrown from the bus, and managed to escape an attempt by the men to run them over. 'Amanat' died two weeks later from the horrific injuries of her attack.

A committee of legal experts set up by the government to suggest amendments to existing laws submitted its report last week.  The commission, headed by Justice JS Verma, has asked for sweeping changes, but has not recommended the death penalty for rapists.  Instead, the panel suggests that the maximum sentence for rapists should be life imprisonment "which shall mean for the rest of the convict's natural life." Currently, convicts sentenced to life in prison are often released after 14 years in jail.

Delhi gangrape impact: Justice Verma Committee to submit report on reform in anti-rape laws today

More than a month after the horrific Delhi gangrape-cum-murder, the Justice Verma Committee will submit its recommendations on reform measures in Indian anti-rape laws.

Shaken by the fury of the capital's angry youth and apparently needing promptings of Sonia Gandhi, a clueless Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had announced the setting up of a three-member committee of eminent jurists to review the country's rape laws. The committee, comprising Justices (retd) J.S. Verma and Leila Seth and noted jurist Gopal Subramaniam, was to submit its report in 30 days.

The Committee was given a mandate to review existing legal options and suggest measures to strengthen such legislation to check crimes against women. The Committee was also asked to invite the views of citizens, NGOs, rights groups, activists and other stakeholders.

Keeping in mind the current case, the Committee was asked to review if enhanced punishment for aggravated or extreme assaults fell withing judicial bounds.

The Committee was also to recommend the validity of death sentences in rape cases and the increase of rape sentences to life.

Trial of Delhi gang-rape suspect has begun: Prosecutor

NEW DELHI: Five men went on trial Monday over the fatal gang-rape of student on a bus in Delhi as the victim's father urged the special fast-track court to deliver swift justice and sentence her attackers to hang.

With the case being held behind closed doors and subject to a gagging order, it was left to one of the prosecutors to announce the start of the case to reporters packed outside the sessions court in New Delhi.

"The trial has begun," Dayan Krishnan told AFP. "The chargesheet has been submitted before the judge and the arguments will begin on January 24."

The trial is being held in a special "fast-track" court in the capital set up to circumvent India's notoriously slow justice system, with the victim's family leading widespread calls for quick closure on the horrifying case.

The start of the trial was delayed until late in the afternoon Monday by a failed application to overturn the gagging order while a lawyer for one defendant also sought to move the trial out of New Delhi.

The father of the 23-year-old victim said her family would rest only once the culprits were convicted and hanged and he urged judge Yogesh Khanna to complete his work quickly.

"We have finished the mourning rituals for my daughter in the village but our mourning will not end until the court passes down its verdict. My daughter's soul will only rest in peace after the court punishes the men," the father told AFP.

"It is the duty of the court and the judges to ensure that the final order to punish all the accused is handed down quickly and all the men are hanged.

"No man has the right to live after committing such a heinous crime."

The assault last month on the medical student, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sparked mass protests across India -- in particular in New Delhi which has been dubbed the country's "rape capital" over the incidence of such attacks.

Though gang-rapes and sexual harassment are commonplace in India, the case has touched a nerve, leading to an outpouring of criticism of the treatment of women in Indian society.

Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, on Sunday condemned the "shameful" social attitudes which she said led to crimes like gang-rape. The New Delhi case had "shaken the entire country," she added.

The five men face murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and other charges, with prosecutors expected to demand the death penalty. A sixth suspect, who claims he is 17, will be tried by a separate juvenile court.

Defence lawyers say they will enter not-guilty pleas and accuse police of torturing the adult defendants -- aged between 19 and 35 -- to confess.

The woman, a promising student whose father worked extra shifts as an airport baggage handler to educate her, suffered massive intestinal injuries during the assault on the bus in which she was raped and violated with an iron bar.

She died 13 days later after the government airlifted her to a Singapore hospital in a last-ditch bid to save her life.

In a move that could lead to a significant delay to proceedings, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a request to transfer the trial to a venue outside New Delhi.

M.L. Sharma, counsel for defendant Mukesh Singh, said it would be impossible for his client to receive a fair hearing in the city where the December 16 attack took place.

The application for a transfer will be considered by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

V.K. Anand, a defence lawyer for another suspect called Ram Singh, asked the judge to lift the reporting ban on proceedings, but his request was refused.

"Crime is against society at large. Society has the right to know what happens in the court," he argued when speaking to AFP.

Senior prosecutor Rajiv Mohan, who has vowed to seek the death penalty for the "heinous" crime, has said that he has "sufficient evidence" against all the accused to secure a conviction.

Police have gathered DNA evidence allegedly linking the defendants to the attack while the victim's hospital-bed declaration before her death and testimony from her 28-year-old companion are also set to be crucial.

India says it only imposes the death penalty in the "rarest of rare cases". Two months ago, it hanged the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks -- the country's first execution in eight years.

Delhi gang-rape case moved to fast-track court: Lawyer

NEW DELHI: The case against five adults accused of gang-raping and murdering a student in New Delhi was moved on Thursday for trial in a fast-track court, a lawyer for one of the defendants said.

"The magistrate has committed the case to the sessions court which is fast-track," Sadashiv Gupta, the lawyer for fruit-seller Pawan Kumar, told reporters outside a district court in south Delhi. The court would hold its first hearing on the case on January 21, Gupta added.

Suspect in Delhi gang-rape case appeared in TV show

NEW DELHI — A driver charged with the gang-rape and murder of a student on his bus in New Delhi was accused of drink driving by a former employer when he appeared on a reality TV show in 2010, footage showed on Friday.

Ram Singh, one of six people accused of the fatal December 16 attack on a 23-year-old student, featured in Aap Ki Kachehri (Your Court), a show hosted by former top police officer Kiran Bedi who tries to resolve civil disputes.

Singh, wearing a loose bright orange shirt, argued on the programme that he was entitled to compensation from his employer for injuries that he suffered while driving one of their buses in the capital.

But his employer, who also appeared on the show, in turn accused Singh of "drunk, negligent and rash driving" and alleged that he had taken the bus out despite being told it had been withdrawn from service.

"He alleged that his employer had not financially assisted him with hospital bills following the accident," Bedi told The Times of India.

"The employer refused to pay any compensation as he alleged that Singh had a history of irresponsible behaviour. Singh did not get any compensation at the end of the show," she added.

The episode also showed Singh pleading that he was a widower and had a young son to take care of.

"All I want is the compensation so that I can live the rest of my life peacefully and bring up my son nicely," Singh said, standing on a podium and facing the judge.

Singh and his five co-accused are alleged to have taken it in turns to rape the woman as well as assaulting her male companion before throwing them off the moving bus.

The victim died in a Singapore hospital, 13 days after the attack, which triggered mass protests across India.

Singh, if convicted, could face the death penalty.