Indian rape accused to plead not guilty

FAST-TRACK TRIAL

For days after their arrest, soon after the assault on the woman and a male companion, none of the men had a lawyer. Most members of the judiciary refused to represent them because of the outrage over the attack.

Police conducted extensive interrogations of the men in the absence of any lawyer and they say they have recorded confessions.

Legal experts had said a lack of representation for the suspects could give grounds for appeal if they were found guilty. Convictions in similar cases have often been overturned years later.

Sharma and another lawyer, V. K. Anand, offered to defend the five men when they appeared in a New Delhi court for the first time on Monday.

The case has shone a light on a widespread problem of violence against women but also the failure of the criminal justice system to bring the guilty to justice in a country where official statistics show a rape is reported every 20 minutes.

The trial will be conducted in a special fast-track process, set up after the attack, but some legal experts have warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India had, in some cases, led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.

On Wednesday, the court where pre-trial hearings are taking place rejected an appeal against a court decision to try the men in camera. Namita Aggarwal, the presiding magistrate, said on Monday that the trial would be held behind closed doors because of the sensitivity of the case.

One of the suspects, Akshay Thakur, was due to appear in court on Wednesday when police are likely to seek his remand in custody. Police say they could bring a supplementary charge-sheet if the sixth member of the group is found to be an adult.

The woman lived for two weeks after the attack but died on Dec 29 in a Singapore hospital where she had been taken for treatment.

Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes to protect their privacy in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.