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| Thousands of Indian women and men participate in peace march with placards carrying pro-women slogans to Mahatma Gandhi memorial, Rajghat, in New Delhi, India Images: Daily Mail |
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| Accused rapists in a footage by NDTV |
Well, even lawyers can be repulsed by certain crimes!
Lawyers in India are refusing to represent the suspects arrested in connection with the cruel gang-rape and murder of a medical student in India last December.
The group of Indian men accused of gang raping the 23-year-old woman were arraigned today without representation. The lawyers said they are abstaining to give the case a speedy trial. (Finally some forthright learned friends admit lawyers complicate cases).
Five people have been formally charged over the rape and murder of the physiotherapy student, with one named as Ram Singh.
Today it emerged a sixth suspect, who is believed to be a juvenile and is expected to be tried separately, was the cruellest of all.
According to The Hindustan Times, a police charge sheet reveals in horrendous detail exactly what he is alleged to have done to the unconscious victim – after she had been raped.
The newspaper reported that he pulled her intestines out with his bare hands and was also responsible for suggesting that she be thrown naked from the bus.
Today her father called for the hanging of those responsible for the attack saying ‘the death penalty is compulsory for a crime so great.’
The trial will be held in a fast track court and will start on Saturday.
‘Of all the persons in the bus, two had engaged in the most barbarism – Ram Singh, the main accused in the case, and the juvenile ‘ said an officer, according to the paper.
‘Both of them had subjected her to sexual abuse twice. Singh was the first to rape her followed by the juvenile and then Akshay. Later, when she lost consciousness, Singh and the juvenile raped her a second time.’
Authorities are waiting for the outcome of a bone marrow test before deciding whether the sixth suspect in the attack will be charged as a juvenile or an adult.
The results of the test, intended to determine the suspect’s exact age, are expected to arrive soon.
Police plan to ask for the death penalty in the case. The men – the bus driver, his brother and four of their friends – are residents of a south Delhi slum near the site of the attack.
‘We have decided that no lawyer will stand up to defend the rape accused as it would be immoral to defend the case.’
Criminal lawyer Ajay Digpaul told India Today: ‘In my view, it should not take more than 10-15 effective hearings to decide the case as there is plenty of evidence.’
Sanjay Kumar, a lawyer and a member of the Saket District Bar Council said that 2,500 advocates registered at the court had decided to stay away to ensure ‘speedy justice’.
‘We have decided that no lawyer will stand up to defend the rape accused as it would be immoral to defend the case,’ he said to AFP.
Her father moved the family to Delhi from a rural part of India in order to improve her chances of realising her ambition of a career in medicine.
The dream was cut short on December 16 when she was attacked by six men after as she caught the bus home after going to the cinema to watch The Life of Pi. She died from her injuries on Friday.
Fresh details of the case have emerged in the Indian press where it is reported that her attackers tried to throw her under the bus after raping her inside it.
India’s people have been outraged by the sickening gang rape attack and have taken to the streets all over the country
The rape victim died at the weekend after 13-day struggle to survive injuries so severe that the majority of her intestines had to be removed.
