One of five Indian rape suspects 'is a minor'

One of the five men charged with gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi is a minor, his lawyer said yesterday (Rex Features)

One of the five men charged with gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi is a minor, his lawyer said yesterday.

ML Sharma, lawyer for Mukesh Singh, said police papers indicating Mr Singh is 26 had been "manipulated". The maximum sentence in a juvenile court is three years. Yesterday prosecutors also requested the five be placed in handcuffs while in custody to prevent suicide.

"If you could just see his face, he is only a child," Sharma told The Associated Press.

The five charged in last month's attack in New Delhi face a possible death penalty if convicted. A sixth suspect says he is 17 years old, and if he is tried in a juvenile court he would face a maximum sentence of three years in a reform facility.

The rape and brutal beating of the woman, who died of severe internal injuries, has set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.

The five men charged in the incident live in a slum in New Delhi and were allegedly riding in an off-duty bus that picked up the woman and a male companion in the evening of Dec. 16 in a posh part of the capital. Both were beaten severely and thrown off the bus. The woman died two weeks later of the injuries in a Singapore hospital.

The hearing has been closed to the media under a gag order placed by the magistrate. The defendants have been brought to the court with their faces masked, and authorities have not released photos of the accused.

Sharma said Singh had added several years to his age to get a driver's license. He said he asked the court to order a medical test to determine his client's age, but that the court did not indicate whether it would meet his request.

The case was expected to be shifted to the fast-track court Monday to avoid the delays that plague most trials in India. But the court addressed only procedural matters and paperwork at the hearing, and the case was not handed over.

The next hearing was scheduled for Thursday. It was not clear whether the case will be handed over then to the fast-track court, which was created this month to deal with crimes against women.

AP