A gang of men accused of repeatedly raping a 23-year-old female student on a moving bus in New Delhi are to appear in court for the first time.
At least five suspects will be charged on Thursday with rape, kidnapping and murder after the victim died during the weekend from the horrific injuries inflicted on her during the attack.
It was unclear if a sixth suspect believed to be a minor aged 17 would appear in the Saket district court in south New Delhi. Police have ordered a bone test to determine his age and whether he can stand trial in an adult court. The men, most of whom are residents of New Delhi slums, will face the death penalty if convicted, India’s Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said, amid public calls for their execution. “It is compulsory for all the accused [to] present themselves before the magistrate,” Rana Dasgupta, a legal officer at the court, explained to the AFPnews agency.
The magistrate “will admit the charge sheet presented by the police and then give a copy of the charge sheet to all the accused”.
This document – reportedly 1,000 pages long – will lay out the evidence collected, the most powerful of which is expected to be a statement from the victim after the attack and an account from her boyfriend who was with her at the time.
He was also beaten during his attempts to save the medical student after the couple were lured onto the private bus by the reportedly drunk gang after watching a film at night.
Lawyers at the court in New Delhi told AFP that they would not defend the suspects, meaning that the government would have to appoint advocates for what will be a fast-tracked trial.
“We have decided that no lawyer will stand up to defend the rape accused, as it would be immoral to defend the case,” Sanjay Kumar, a lawyer and member of the Saket District Bar Council, told AFP.