Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE FATHER OF a student who died after being gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi called for swift justice and for her attackers to be hanged as five men accused of her murder prepared to go on trial Monday.
A defence lawyer tried to persuade India’s top court that the trial should be shifted out of the capital, but the father of the 23-year-old victim said her family would only rest once a fast-track court had handed down its verdict.
“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.
Protests
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.
The trial is being held in a fast-track court to circumvent India’s notoriously slow justice system, with the victim’s family leading widespread calls for quick closure on the horrifying case.
But 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.
ML 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, but in the meantime proceedings are expected to go ahead in the fast-track court, starting at 2:30 pm (9am GMT).
Charges
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.
But prosecutors say they have DNA evidence linking the defendants to the attack in which the student and a male companion were assaulted on a bus as it was driven around the city, having been picked up after seeing a movie.
The prosecutors also have the victim’s hospital-bed declaration before her death and testimony from her 28-year-old companion who took part in identification parades after the ordeal.
Senior prosecutor Rajiv Mohan, who has vowed to seek the death penalty for the “heinous” crime, has said that “we have sufficient evidence against all the accused” to secure a conviction.
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 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.
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 and the apparent rise in violent sex crime in recent years.
During previous hearings in the lower city court, proceedings were subject to a media blocking order that prevented journalists from revealing events inside the court room.
Defence lawyer VK Anand told AFP he would contest the reporting ban, saying “this trial should be transparent”.
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.
There is no excuse for rape. Death penalty would be a suitable punishment.
There is no excuse for a death penalty. That doesn’t differ if its a criminal or an unborn child. Nobody has the right to end a life except God himself.
Ann,that doesn’t make sense. Even vegetables and flowers are alive so right to life is nonsensical. As for sentience, scientists have discovered that plant life has a complex underground communication system. Just because a plant doesn’t speak English, that doesn’t make it stupid! The arrogant missionaries had that attitude about ‘primitives’- and more fool them for it!
I think a person has a right to end his or her own life. Also I’m pro life so your comment actually offends me. Also God doesn’t exist. Just filling u in there.
Directed an Holy Ann.
Pro choice that is. NOT pro life. Bit of a slip there. Apologies.
The father’s dead right.
Hang em up by the nuts and leave em swing there.
Horrific crimes like this which are common place by all reports would make you believe in hanging
Hanging is too good for the bastards.
The death penalty is barbaric.
An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.
Not an eye for an eye, maybe two eyes for two eyes leaves everybody blind….
I oppose the use of the death penalty so 150 years would be more appropriate, if found guilty.
I agree about the death penalty, to me its too quick and easy, when your dead your dead and in India its the family who will suffer.
there has to be a change in cultural norms, why are women worth ,less than a cow ? I believe in chemical sterallisation and a physical ‘marking ‘ to show their crime while in prison.
they would not last long in Prison or even after they were released, if ever.
It will take many generations and perhaps a hundred years before things change.
I am glad the law is being upheld , but am concerned that (a) they caught them so quickly and had DNA within day
(B) these guys are going to be found guilty, are they, I really hope so.
(c) what happens when a woman is raped tomorrow and the next day
India is known for its injustice, for justice being based on back hander’s, for the police not following the law and or women suffering in the hands of the Police.
this is one case what about all the other that happen every day.
“No man has the right to live after comitting such a heinous crime” wise words from her father, I couldnt agree more
living can be worse than being dead, why do you think some people kill them selves ?
my daughter could not live with having been raped she died rather than live, her’s was also a pack rape and no not in India.
in Australia where our laws are said to be fair and good,
I really should add to my post re my daughters rape.
the 4 who raped her had a chat with my son’s, then were returned to their ship, if we had of gone to court my daughter
would never have made through the trial and the four rapist would have been returned to their country of birth, the and the whole thing would have been brushed under the carpet,
I had them dishonourably discharged, they lost their collage fund, and their wives, mothers sisters and community were informed
I hope they live in a cardboard box under a bridge!
Any human that is capable of doing something so cruel will always be a danger to people. They do not deserve to be alive!
Absolutely no excuse for the death penalty. It completely undermines everything a modern society’s justice system should stand for: punishment, incarceration, detention, rehabilitation. There’s still an overwhelming amount of emotion caught up in this incident and it’s affecting a lot of the commentary. NO MATTER WHAT people say about the particularly heinous nature of this crime, condoning the death penalty is to open up a Pandora’s Box on one’s own morals and principles. In no circumstances is the death penalty the answer, none whatsoever.
Not least of all the possibility of innocent people being wrongfully convicted and put to death.
for some its too quick
Sounds fair to me.
have your say