Lawyers won’t defend Delhi gang-rape accused

Lawyers at the Delhi court ,where the Delhi gang-rape case hearings are set to begin tomorrow, said they would refuse to defend the accused.

Zeenews Bureau New Delhi: Even as India demands speedy justice to the 23-year-old girl who died after being brutally gang-raped and assaulted in Delhi on December 16, lawyers at the city court ,where the hearings are set to begin tomorrow, said they would refuse to defend the accused. The 2,500 advocates registered at the Saket district court have reportedly decided to stay away to ensure speedy justice, implying the government would have to appoint lawyers for the defendants. The case will be tried in a fast-track court. With the investigating officers confident of having solid evidence against the accused, the trial may take not more than a month, reports said.

All the six accused are under arrest and would be tried for murder among other charges. The Delhi Police has prepared an over 1000-page chargesheet and would urge the court to take the case as rarest of rare and awarded death penalty to the accused, reports added. This is a rare case when most police officers surprisingly are in agreement with what protesters are demanding on the streets: death for all six rapists. The girl was gang-raped and brutally assaulted with an iron rod on December 16 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six men. Despite the efforts put in by a big team of doctors, she died on Saturday in a Singapore hospital after struggling for 13 days to live. The woman and her male friend boarded the bus in south Delhi`s Munirka area Dec 16 night. The bus was plying illegally, and within moments the six males began assaulting her. Her friend was badly beaten. After 40 minutes of savagery, in which the attackers also used an iron rod, both victims were thrown out - naked, shivering and bleeding. Police say the crew tried to crush the gang-rape victim but failed. Even police officers who have over the decades seen countless bodies and battered humans are unable to control their emotions as they talk about the savagery committed Dec 16 on the victim who finally died Dec 29. "We have never seen a beastly crime like this," one officer said. "Forget the details… I can tell you with authority that there has never been a rape like this anywhere in the world."