RapeTrial: Senior Cops Face Dept Inquiry Pg 6

India gang-rape trial starts with testimony from victim's friend

Demonstrators hold a banner during a candlelight march for a gang rape victim, who was assaulted in New Delhi January 16, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Adnan Abidi

(Reuters) - The trial of five men charged with gang-raping and murdering a young woman on a bus in New Delhi opened on Tuesday with closed-door testimony from her friend who appeared at court in a wheelchair, still bearing the scars of injuries from the attack.

The 28-year-old software engineer, who may not be identified, is the prosecution's star witness in a case that has triggered nationwide protests, an intense debate about rampant crime against women in India and tougher anti-rape laws.

The five accused are Vinay Sharma, a gym assistant, Ram Singh, the bus driver, his brother Mukesh Singh, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh and fruit vendor Pawan Kumar. They have pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and murder. A sixth accused is being tried separately as a juvenile.

Police allege the six attacked the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist and her friend on the bus as the couple returned home from watching a movie on December 16. The woman was repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar. The couple were also severely beaten before being thrown onto a road.

The woman died of internal injuries in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.

As the trial got under way, the victim's father made a surprise appearance at a news conference organized by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to call for his daughter's attackers to be hanged.

At one stage, the friend, defense lawyers and some policemen moved from the courtroom to a courtyard where the bus on which police say the attack took place was parked.

Journalists saw some of them board the vehicle, which was white with tinted windows and orange curtains. Above the windshield was painted "Praise the Goddess" in Hindi.

The victim's friend was not seen boarding the bus. The friend's father said later it was the second time his son had seen the bus since the attack.

In his statement to police after the assault, the friend said their attackers had asked "where are you going with a girl so late at night?" before launching a furious assault in which he was beaten with a metal rod and his clothes ripped off. While he was being beaten, the woman was repeatedly raped, he said, according to a police charge sheet seen by Reuters.

The prosecution says articles stolen from the couple, including their cellphones, rings and debit cards were found in raids conducted on the homes of the accused. DNA evidence and bloodstained clothes also form part of their case.

Defense lawyers say they will highlight what they say are discrepancies in the account given by the victim's friend.

The five men are being tried in a special fast-track court opposite the shopping mall where the victim and her friend went to watch the film "Life of Pi" before boarding the bus.

About 30 policemen were deployed outside the courtroom on Tuesday as the five accused arrived wearing scarves or handkerchiefs to mask their faces.

(Additional reporting by Suchitra Mohanty, Arup Roychoudhury and Satarupa Bhattacharjya, writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by John Chalmers and Robert Birsel)

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INDIA NEWS | February 5, 2013, 8:26 a.m. ET

By VIBHUTI AGARWAL

NEW DELHI'The trial of five men accused of raping a young woman in the Indian capital on Dec. 16 began Tuesday and the victim's friend, who was on the private bus where the crime allegedly took place, testified for the prosecution, according to lawyers and police involved in the case.

A senior police officer, as well as lawyers for all five men on trial, said outside court that the male friend positively identified the accused and provided other details as a prosecution witness.

European Pressphoto Agency

A Delhi police van believed to be carrying the five accused

left the Saket court complex in New Delhi, Jan. 24.

The five men face a range of charges including rape, kidnapping and murder; the young woman died of the injuries she sustained in the assault. All five have pleaded not guilty.

The friend, who hasn't been named by The Wall Street Journal out of respect for Indian law concerning the identification of rape victims, was himself badly beaten in the assault, according to the young man and police.

He is undergoing treatment for his injuries in Delhi and police brought him to the court in a wheelchair Tuesday morning. He was accompanied by his father and another relative.

"We will follow the case till justice is done," his father told reporters outside the court Tuesday morning. Lawyers for the accused men said they expect cross-examination of the male friend to begin Wednesday.

The male friend, a software engineer, and the rape victim boarded a private bus around 9 p.m. on Dec. 16 on their way home from a movie, according to the male friend and police. They allege that the only others on the bus were the five men and a juvenile who is facing proceedings in a juvenile court.

The two were then assaulted with iron rods and the young woman was raped before both were dumped naked at the side of a highway, where they were rescued, according to police and the young man.

The case sparked protests over the lack of safety for women in India, garnered worldwide attention, and has led to the Indian government strengthening laws relating to sexual assault.

In the coming weeks, at least 80 witnesses are expected to be examined by public prosecutors and defense lawyers involved in the case, according to the Delhi police. The trial of the five men is being held at a special fast-track court at the Saket district court complex in south Delhi.

Separately, the Delhi police Monday evening filed a supplementary charge sheet that included a post mortem report from the Singapore hospital where the victim died two weeks after the incident, a Delhi police official at the court said. The victim had been transferred to Singapore for specialist treatment. She died on Dec. 29 and her body was returned to India for cremation.

The police had earlier filed in court a detailed document of more than 600 pages containing the charges.

The 28-year-old, confined to a wheelchair as a result of injuries sustained in the attack, confirmed that a white bus was the vehicle on which the deadly assault took place on December 16, his father told AFP.

"Yes, my son could identify the bus. The cross-examination is going to start now," said the father, whose son cannot be named for legal reasons.

Although proceedings are subject to a gagging order, police allowed reporters to see the young man being taken in the company of lawyers and the judge to the bus which has been parked in the court compound.

No photographs were allowed.

He then returned inside the courtroom where he was expected to be cross-examined by lawyers for the five adult accused, who have all denied murder, rape and robbery charges.

A sixth defendant is being tried separately as a juvenile.

"My son will go to any lengths to ensure that the guilty are punished," the father had earlier told AFP as the two of them entered the courtroom in the Saket district.

"He will cooperate and is prepared to answer any questions posed by the defence."

The 23-year-old medical student died in a Singapore hospital on December 29 from massive internal injuries she sustained during the savage bus assault a fortnight earlier which caused outrage across India.

She and her companion had spent the evening at the cinema and were lured onto the off-duty bus after failing to flag down an autorickshaw to take them home.

As well as taking turns to rape the woman and violating her with a rusty iron bar, the group attacked her companion so badly that he is still unable to walk properly.

He is the main witness in a case that is being held in a special fast-track court.

The judge has banned all reporting of proceedings inside the courtroom and ordered lawyers not to speak to journalists.

New Delhi gang rape case making life harder for slum dwellers

Updated Tue Feb 5, 2013 8:14am AEDT

An Indian court will today begin to hear evidence in the trial of five men accused of the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi last December. The men have all pleaded not guilty but the prosecution says it has a watertight case and is confident of a conviction. People living in the Ravi Dass slum in South Delhi where the men are from say the case has made life there even harder.

Source: AM | Duration: 3min 32sec

Topics: sexual-offences, law-crime-and-justice, crime, courts-and-trials, international-law, women, india

Celebrity Saudi preacher who 'raped' and tortured his five-year-old daughter to death escapes with light sentence

• Lama al-Ghamdi's back was broken and she had been raped and burned
• She died in October from her injuries after ten months in hospital
  
• Her father Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a prominent Islamist preacher, admitted beating her but was freed after agreeing to pay 31,000 compensation
  
• Campaign to give women and children better protection gaining momentum
  

By Becky Evans

PUBLISHED: 12:18 GMT, 4 February 2013 | UPDATED: 13:26 GMT, 4 February 2013

A Saudi preacher who tortured his five-year-old daughter to death has been released after agreeing to pay 'blood money', activists said.

Lama al-Ghamdi died in October having suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns.

The child had also been repeatedly raped and the burned.

Lama suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken ribs and back, bruising and burns. She had been raped repeatedly and died of her injuries in October

Her father Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a prominent Islamist preacher who regularly appears on television in Saudi Arabia, served only a few months in jail despite admitting having used a cane and cables to inflict the injuries.

Activists from the group Women to Drive said the preacher had doubted Lama's virginity and had her checked up by a medic.

Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted, said the girl's back was broken and that she had been repeatedly raped.

Her injuries were then burned.

Rather than the death penalty or a long prison sentence, the judge in the case ruled the prosecution could only seek 'blood money', according to activists.

The money is compensation for the next of kin under Islamic law.

Saudi preacher Fayhan Ghamd was given a 31,000 fine despite admitting beating his daughter with a cable

Activists said the judge ruled the few months al-Ghamdi spent in prison since his arrest in November was sufficient punishment.

He has reportedly agreed to pay 31,000 ($50,000), which is believed to have gone to Lama's mother.

The amount is half that would have been paid if Lama had been a boy.

Activists say under Islamic laws a father cannot be executed for murdering his children. Husbands can also not be executed for murdering their wives, the group say.

Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif, who started the women's right to drive campaign, have raised objections to the ruling.

A social media campaign is now gaining momentum after the ruling was publicised.

Manal al-Sharif has launched a campaign on Twitter using the hashtag 'Ana Lama', which is translated as I am Lama, calling for better protection for children and women.

Local reports say public anger in Saudi Arabia is also growing and authorities have said they will create a 24-hour hotline to take calls about child abuse.

Women to Drive said in a post on their Facebook page

Originally posted by: PandorasBox

Rather than the death penalty or a long prison sentence, the judge in the case ruled the prosecution could only seek 'blood money', according to activists.

The money is compensation for the next of kin under Islamic law.