Fast-track court for ’Amanat’ case inaugurated

mangaloretoday.com/ NDTV

New Delhi, Jan 02:  A fast-track court was inaugurated in New Delhi on Wednesday to ensure quick trial of suspects in the gang-rape of 23-year-old medical student ’Amanat’ (NOT her real name), whose torture and eventual death continues to evoke protests on the streets of the Capital and elsewhere.

 

 Here are the latest developments:

    The Delhi Police will file a 1000-page chargesheet in court on Thursday, after which the trial will begin. The suspects will not be present in the court on the first day.

    The police are conducting a bone test on one of the six suspects to confirm his claim that he is a juvenile. Prosecutors, the police said, will seek death penalty for the other five suspects. 

    Lawyers have vowed not to defend the suspects. "No lawyer will stand up to defend them. It would be immoral to defend the case," said Sanjay Kumar, member of the Saket District Bar Council.

    Amanat’s family has welcomed Union Minister Shashi Tharoor’s suggestion that the country’s anti-rape laws, now being studied by a panel for revision, be named after the student. Her father told the Press Trust of India "it would be an honour ". But sources said there is no provision in the Indian Penal Code and  Criminal Procedure Code to name a law after an individual.

    Shocking details continue to emerge about the December 16 gang-rape. Police sources said the men in the bus allegedly tried to run over Amanat and her friend after throwing them out of the bus. She was saved by her friend just in time.

    The sources said the police chargesheet is likely to give details of how Amanat valiantly tried to fight her attackers - she bit three of the men assaulting her. The bite marks on them were likely to be part of the police’s evidence.

    The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has written to the Prime Minister that Amanat be posthumously honoured with the Ashoka Chakra, the county’s highest civilian award for bravery, on Republic Day.

    There is no let-up in the outpouring of grief and anger on the streets. Hundreds marched in Delhi, from Bal Bhawan near India Gate to Rajghat, on Wednesday to demand justice for Amanat. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the march.

    Amanat died in a Singapore hospital on Sunday morning after a brave fight to survive that left even her doctors amazed. She underwent three major surgeries in less than two weeks, including one to have her intestines removed, suffered a cardiac arrest as well as brain damage.

    Doctors at Safdarjung Hospital, where she was first treated, say she was strong-willed and positive and often told her mother she wanted to live.