Lawyers not to defend Delhi gangrape accused

New Delhi: The Saket District Court Bar Association has decided that none of its members would defend the six accused in the gangrape and murder of 23-year-old paramedical student. The Bar Association on Wednesday passed a resolution not to defend any of the accused in the brutal gangrape case, which is scheduled to start on Thursday in a fast-track court and will be heard daily to ensure speedy trial and justice.

All the six accused have been charged under various Indian Penal Code sections including murder and rape. The accused have been charged under sections 302 (murder), 365 (kidnapping or abducting), 376 (2)(g) (gang rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 394 (hurting in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention) of IPC. While one of the accused is a minor, the others are Ram Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh and Akshay Singh alias Thakur.

Delhi Police have readied a 1000-page chargesheet and will be citing 30 witnesses in the case. In the chargesheet, the police have mentioned the entire sequence of events from the time the prime accused, Ram Singh, and five others had a party at their place and then took the bus out at night just to earn a few bucks to buy more alcohol. A bone marrow test would be conducted to verify if the youngest accused in the case is a minor or not.

Sources said that the prosecution during the trial in a fast-track court in Saket - where the hearing in the case would begin on Thursday - would demand death penalty for the five accused. The sixth accused would be produced before a juvenile justice board once it was proved that he was a minor and could be sent to a juvenile's home for a maximum of three years in connection with the ghastly incident.

According to the chargesheet, the girl and her friend got into the bus at the Munirka bus stop, after which some of the accused made lewd comments and it led to an argument between the two groups. As the argument got heated, the girl and the boy were assaulted by the accused. While the boy was hit with a rod, the girl was gangraped, police officials who interrogated the six accused said.

The investigators added that the statements of the braveheart and her male friend are part of the chargesheet and will be used to nail the accused.