India rape case suspect kills himself
2013-03-11 07:26
New Delhi - The main accused in the fatal gang rape of a
student on a bus in New Delhi last December hanged himself in jail on Monday
while in solitary confinement, prompting outrage from the victim's family.
Ram Singh, one of six people on trial over the shocking
attack, was found dead shortly before dawn after making a noose out of his
clothing, according to officials at Delhi's top-security Tihar jail.
"He tied all his clothes together and used the ceiling
grill and a wooden stool to hang himself," the prison's law officer Sunil
Gupta told AFP by phone.
A judicial magistrate has begun an investigation into the
suicide which will probe any security lapses, Gupta added.
Family denied justice
But the father of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim told AFP
it was clear that authorities had been negligent and that the family had been
denied justice.
"We don't understand how could the police fail to
protect Ram Singh. They knew he was the prime accused in my daughter's
case," said the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
"How could they let him choose the way he wanted to
die? The police have failed and I wonder what will happen to the case
now."
The victim's mother said she was shocked to hear of the
suicide.
"I just wanted justice for my daughter. The main
accused is dead. Maybe the guilt killed him?" she told AFP.
Singh was making regular appearances in a New Delhi court
where he faced murder, rape and kidnapping charges over the crime which ignited
street protests and soul-searching about endemic sex crime in India.
Death sentence
Four other men charged over the gang rape face the death
sentence if convicted in a special fast-track court, whose proceedings are
subject to a media gagging order. They have all pleaded not guilty.
A sixth 17-year-old suspect is being tried in a juveniles'
court where he faces a maximum three years imprisonment.
The victim, who was studying physiotherapy, died on 29 December
at a hospital in Singapore, 13 days after the attack.
As well as being repeatedly raped, she was also violated
with a metal bar, leaving her with massive internal injuries.
Singh, a widower whose brother Mukesh is also an accused,
was the regular driver of the white private bus alleged to have been used for
the 16 December crime, which was normally used to ferry schoolchildren.
Police say Singh and friends had enjoyed a meal together and
had been drinking heavily before deciding to take the bus out for a night-time
joyride, picking up passengers who mistook the vehicle for genuine public
transport.
Case will continue
Another senior police officer investigating the case, who
asked not to be named, insisted that the suicide would not impact on the
ongoing trial.
"The [court] case will continue. There is no reason for
the case to suffer," said the officer who also confirmed that Singh killed
himself at 05:15.
Another police officer deployed at Tihar Jail said Singh's
body had been taken to the government-run Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital and his
brother Mukesh had been informed.
"We tried to save him and even employed revival
techniques but failed," he told AFP.
Singh, originally from western Rajasthan state, lived in a
New Delhi slum called Ravi Dass colony where neighbours described him and his
brother as rowdy and heavy drinkers.
"They were always drinking, abusing and getting into
fights with us," one neighbour, who works as a domestic servant, told AFP.
