Five accused of rape and murder appear in Indian court for charges
Source: Agencies |
January 8, 2013, Tuesday
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FIVE men accused of the rape and murder of an Indian student appeared in court yesterday to hear charges against them after two of them offered evidence possibly in return for a lighter sentence in the case that has provoked widespread anger.
The five men, along with a teenager, are accused of raping the 23-year-old physiotherapy student after she boarded their bus on the way home from a movie in New Delhi on December 16. She died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
The attack on the student has ignited protests against the government and anger toward the police for their perceived failure to protect women in India. It has also provoked a rare national debate about rising violence against women.
A police guard said the men had their faces covered when they entered the courtroom, which had been closed to the public minutes earlier.
The five had already been charged with murder, rape and abduction along with other offenses and the magistrate gave them copies of the charges, a prosecutor in the case said.
The court has yet to assign them defense lawyers or legal aid, said public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan. Most lawyers are unwilling to defend them because of the brutality of the crime.
Video images showed the men stepping out of a blue police van that brought them from the Tihar jail, and walking through a metal detector into the South Delhi court, across the street from the cinema where the victim watched a film before boarding the bus with a male friend.
Following shouting and angry scenes in the packed court, the magistrate, Namrita Aggarwal, closed the hearing to the media and the public. The court was cleared and police were posted at its doors before the accused were brought in.
"Keeping in view the sensitivity of this case that has risen, the proceedings including the inquiry and trial are to be held in camera," Aggarwal said.
Aggarwal said the next hearing would be on Thursday. She did not say when the case would go to trial in a separate, fast-track court, set up after the attack on the woman.
Two of the accused moved an application last Saturday requesting they be made "approvers", or informers, against the other accused, prosecutor Mohan said.
Mohan said he was seeking the death sentence given the "heinous" crime.
"The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty," he said.
The sixth member of the gang is under 18 and will be tried in a separate juvenile court.
The five men, along with a teenager, are accused of raping the 23-year-old physiotherapy student after she boarded their bus on the way home from a movie in New Delhi on December 16. She died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
The attack on the student has ignited protests against the government and anger toward the police for their perceived failure to protect women in India. It has also provoked a rare national debate about rising violence against women.
A police guard said the men had their faces covered when they entered the courtroom, which had been closed to the public minutes earlier.
The five had already been charged with murder, rape and abduction along with other offenses and the magistrate gave them copies of the charges, a prosecutor in the case said.
The court has yet to assign them defense lawyers or legal aid, said public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan. Most lawyers are unwilling to defend them because of the brutality of the crime.
Video images showed the men stepping out of a blue police van that brought them from the Tihar jail, and walking through a metal detector into the South Delhi court, across the street from the cinema where the victim watched a film before boarding the bus with a male friend.
Following shouting and angry scenes in the packed court, the magistrate, Namrita Aggarwal, closed the hearing to the media and the public. The court was cleared and police were posted at its doors before the accused were brought in.
"Keeping in view the sensitivity of this case that has risen, the proceedings including the inquiry and trial are to be held in camera," Aggarwal said.
Aggarwal said the next hearing would be on Thursday. She did not say when the case would go to trial in a separate, fast-track court, set up after the attack on the woman.
Two of the accused moved an application last Saturday requesting they be made "approvers", or informers, against the other accused, prosecutor Mohan said.
Mohan said he was seeking the death sentence given the "heinous" crime.
"The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty," he said.
The sixth member of the gang is under 18 and will be tried in a separate juvenile court.
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