India rape accused a minor - lawyer
2013-01-21 16:29
New Delhi - A lawyer for one of five suspects, who have
gone on trial for the fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus, said on Monday
his client was under 18 and should appear before a juvenile court.
Police had said Vinay Sharma, a gym assistant and fitness
trainer, was aged 20 and he was put on trial along with four other adult
suspects in a special "fast-track" court on Monday.
"My client is a minor and I have requested the court
that his case should be moved to the juvenile justice court," Sharma's
lawyer A P Singh told AFP outside the courtroom, adding that a ruling was
expected on 24 January.
A sixth suspect in the horrifying crime, which has
provoked street protests and a month of soul-searching in India, is being tried
in a juvenile court where he is expected to receive a far more lenient
sentence.
The woman, a promising student whose father worked extra
shifts as an airport baggage handler to educate her, suffered massive
intestinal injuries during the assault on the bus in which she was raped and
violated with an iron bar.
She died 13 days later after the government airlifted her
to a Singapore hospital in a last-ditch bid to save her life.
