Indian police file charges against 5 accused in gang rape

NEW DELHI - Indian police Thursday filed charges against five of the six accused in a barbarous gang rape in the Indian capital last month, amid a nationwide fury calling for harsh punishment of the accused including execution.

The Delhi Police filed the charges at the Saket court in south Delhi where the shocking gang rape took place on December 16 on a moving bus when the six thugs raped and tortured a 23-year-old medical student for more than half an hour before throwing the dying victim and her boyfriend onto a remote road naked.

Police said the accused also tried to run over the two victims but the boy pulled the woman aside inches from the bus.

The victim died at a Singapore hospital last Saturday after suffering from multi- organic failures caused by fatal body and brain damages inflicted by the assaulters, all of whom hailed from a stinking slum in south Delhi.

The accused were charged with murder, gang rape, unnatural assault, kidnapping, destruction of evidence and a number other offenses, which are considered serious enough for capital punishment by hanging.

The Indian capital has been dipped into a deep melancholy after days of furious protests against the brutality.

The sixth of the accused, a juvenile, will be charged at a juvenile court in accordance with the law, said police sources.

While anger of Indians remain unabated over the horrifying case, authorities have promised to guarantee justice for both the victim and the accused in dealing with the case.

However, if the accused were given any leniency, the public's anger would again break out in the streets as was seen over the past two weeks when the Indian capital experienced unprecedented protests by students and other citizens at the center of power of the country.

A fast track court has been set up at Saket court by the country's chief justice and the case will be delivered by this weekend to the fast track court.

Meanwhile, the Indian government and the opposition are all posed to debate on a new anti-rape law to make harsher and more efficient punishment for rapists and women molesters.

A government minister has called for the naming of the proposed new law after the victim of the Delhi gang rape.

However, some Congress leaders have expressed opposition to the proposal by Minister of State of Human Resources Shashi Tharoor, considered one of the country's most outspoken government ministers.

The gang rape has deeply shaken India and led to a national soul searching on how to better protest women against rapes and other violence, which are reported on a daily basis in the country.