Indian police charge five men with murder in New Delhi gang rape
Indian students of various organizations hold placards as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Hyderabad on January 3, 2013. A gang of men accused of repeatedly raping a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in a deadly crime that repulsed the nation were to appear in court for the first time. / NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 1:02 p.m. ET
NEW DELHI Five men accused of raping a university student for hours on a bus as it drove through India's capital were charged Thursday with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.
The attack on the 23-year-old woman, who died of severe internal injuries over the weekend, provoked a debate across India about the routine mistreatment of females and triggered daily protests demanding action.
There have been signs of change since the attack. Rapes, often ignored, have become front-page news, politicians have called for tougher laws, including the death penalty and chemical castration for rapists, and the government is examining wide-scale reforms in the criminal justice system's handling of sexual assaults. Activists say the tragedy could mark a turning point for women's rights.
In a nation where court cases often linger for years, the government set up a special fast-track court Wednesday to deal with crimes against women, and that is where the charges against the five men were filed Thursday evening. The government said it planned to open four more such courts in the city.
Gang-rape sparks rage in India
Indian women protest brutality
Remembering an Indian gang rape victim
Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan filed a case of rape, tampering with evidence, kidnapping, murder and other charges against the men. The charge sheet was not released and he asked for a closed trial. A hearing was set for Saturday.
The men charged were Ram Singh, the bus driver; his brother Mukesh Singh, who cleans buses for the same company; Pavan Gupta, a fruit vendor; Akshay Singh, a bus washer; and Vinay Sharma, a fitness trainer. They did not appear in court. Authorities have said they would push for the death penalty for the men.
A sixth suspect, listed as a 17-year-old, was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility. Police also detained the owner of the bus on accusations he used false documents to obtain permits to run the private bus service.
The Bar Association said its lawyers would not defend the suspects because of the nature of the crime, but the court was expected to appoint attorneys to defend them.
"Strict, strict, strict punishment should be given to them," said Ashima Sharma, an 18-year-old student attending a protest Thursday. "A very strict punishment ... that all men of India should be aware that they are not going to treat the women like the way they treated her."
The woman was attacked Dec. 16 after boarding the bus with a male companion after watching an evening showing of the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall. The vehicle was a charter bus that illegally picked up the two passengers, authorities said.
The pair were attacked for hours as the bus drove through the city, even passing through police checkpoints during the assault. They were eventually dumped naked on the side of the road. The woman, whose name was not released, was assaulted with an iron bar and suffered severe internal injuries that eventually proved fatal.
- India may suspend lawmakers facing sex assault charges
- Will India rape spark culture change?
- India gang-rape victim's body cremated
The attack caused outrage across India, where women are routinely subject to everything from catcalls to assaults. Many say they fear being outside at night.
Outside the court, about 50 woman lawyers held a protest, demanding wholesale changes in the criminal justice system to ensure justice for women. "Punish the police, sensitize judiciary, eradicate rape," read one protester's sign.
Indian Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said the accused should be tried swiftly, but cautioned that they needed to be given a fair trial and not be subjected to mob justice.
"Let us not lose sight of the fact that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty," he told reporters Wednesday, while inaugurating the new fast-track court. "Let us balance things. Let us not get carried away. Provide justice in a fair but swift manner so that faith of people is once again restored that the judiciary is there behind the common man."
Many cases never even get to court because of intense social pressure against families reporting sexual assaults, which are often blamed on the female victims. When women do report rapes, police often refuse to file charges and pressure the victims to reach a compromise with their attackers.
To try to rectify that, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced a special recruitment drive for women police officers Thursday and ordered every police station in the capital to be staffed by at least nine female officers to make them more attentive to women's needs.
In a sign attitudes might be changing, and that even powerful men are being held accountable, police in the northeastern state of Assam arrested a leader of the ruling Congress party Thursday on accusations he raped a woman in a village in the early hours of the morning.
Footage on Indian television showed the extraordinary scene of local women surrounding the man, ripping off his shirt and repeatedly slapping him across the face.
Police said the man, Bikram Singh Brahma, was visiting the village of Santipur on the Bhutan border when he entered a woman's house and raped her at 2 a.m. Amid the screams, villagers ran to the home and captured the man, said G.P. Singh, a senior police officer in the area.
"We are taking this issue very seriously," Singh said.
Popular on CBSNews.com
-
One year after Afghan massacre, villagers work with U.S. troops One year after U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians, the villagers in the town where the atrocity took place have joined the U.S. special forces stationed there to assist in the fight against the Taliban.
- Widespread protests in Brazil 23 Photos
- 50th Paris Air Show 19 Photos
- One of FBI's Ten Most Wanted nabbed in Mexico
- Italy top court cites "erotic game" hypothesis in Knox case 85 Comments
- Torrential rain devastates Northern India 15 Photos
- Afghan gov't halts talks with U.S. on security pact
- Egypt and Ethiopia try to roll back threats of war
- Somali militants wage deadly attack on U.N. office
The delayed response of the Indian justice is shameful it reflects the face of a corrupt and unjust legal system, a justice serving some at the expense of poor people.
Hopefully this is the beginning, that other concrete measures
will be taken by the Indian authorities to ensure the safety of a population already suffering from poverty.
"au revoir"
We, the people, demand not only justice, but reassurance that the safety of women is a basic right of any society in a civilization. Damini came from a hard-working, middle class family that taught gave her a moral upbringing and her passion to help people in her community in the medical field was just the beginning of her dreams and aspirations. This intelligent and beautiful young girl would have grown up to be a compassionate medical healer and one day would have been a mother herself and raised beautiful children. However, the barbaric acts of 6 men that night changed her life, her families, the nation, and the whole world.
If Gandhi and Bhagat Singh are known as the "fathers of India" Damini will one day be known as the 'DAUGHTER OF INDIA" Know that her innocence will not be forgotten and her sacrifice gone in vain. I have faith that for the countless acts of compassion and millions of hard-working, decent families, this atrocious, violent, and horrid crime will not be forgotten. However, it is up to all of us to remind the bad apples and ill karma individuals who are in the minority, that we the people will not be passive anymore. We will strike for reform and change and hold politicians and police personal accountable. We will strike when the iron rod is hot. And that time is NOW. If we forget or let Damini's sacrifice be a temporary anger until the rapists are hanged, without affecting any long term legislation and law, this even will still be a daily occurrence for women. Just as Damini should be immortalized in history as the DAUGHTER OF INDIA, I as a male feel that hanging is too liberal of a punishment. These nameless cowards and womanizers should be a daily reminder to any would be perpetrator. I say, LET THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES LIVE WITH THEIR SINS. KEEP THEM INCARCERATED IN JAIL ON LIFE SENTENCES. LET THEM SUFFER EACH DAY, KNOWING THEIR LIFE IS MEANINGLESS AND THE BE AN ULCERATING WOUND AND REMINDER TO OUR SOCIETY that this is a disease. A corrupt disease from prince to pauper, from every race, religion and background. It infects societies like cholera and the only way we can live with ourselves is if we all stand up, united, and have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy towards abuse of ANY kind towards women. I am usually apathetic, but hearing of this tragedy has made me throw out passivity and think there are 1.5 billion of us, and the politicians and rapists that get away with these crimes number is but a few. A few rotten apples that spoil the bunch. I urge each and everyone one of you reading this to do a little soul searching and think what level you can tolerate.
Though Damini may be unnamed, she represents every girl, every daughter, every mother, every wife. Women's basic rights and safety and self-respect are threatened every day in the shadows. Every man came from a woman. Where there is Shiva, there is Shakti Mata. To deny the rights of one, is to do at your own karmic risk. Gangs, politicians, perverts, and womanizers can escape the eyes of the law or even bribe it. They cannot escape karma or Bhaagvaan/God/Raab/Allah. As dutiful humans it is up to us to fight these evils, because being passive during such barbaric violence is a sinful decision in passivity itself. The people on the bus that evening, watching and doing nothing, along with the police officers at checkpoints have to look at themselves in the mirror every morning realizing they let the DAUGHTER OF INDIA be raped in front of their eyes. We are all vulnerable to this disease of society. If we do not set harsher laws against rapist that even catch the highest levels of corruption, then India as a society will fall pray to passivity in this kaalyug. I say publish the name of each one of those 6 boys, their family, their community and let their names be popular as the ENEMIES OF INDIA and HUMANITY. Women's rights, children's rights are the top priority of any advanced society. Sikhism also acknowledges this equality between men and women. It is humans who discriminate and treat women so horrible. Don't you have a mother/sister/daughter as well? What kind of life do you want for them? Even the RAPISTS have mothers. I SAY SHINE THEIR NAMES and their FAMILY NAMES on BILLBOARDS and POSTERS. SHAME them and let them live long, rotting in jail and be set as a living, decaying example of the monstrosity that plagues a society when the actions of a few cowards is tolerated. We, the people, have so much more potential as a civilization to root out this evil. Do not let fear and silence hush the voices of the majority of good-hearted people of India for a few rotten apples. MAKE THEIR NAMES be PUBLISHED on every STREET Corner of India! I am just a 13 year old nri boy, but when I am older like all of you, I want to fight for equal rights for all. This inspiration was Damini's gift to me. What selfless gift did this innocent heroine teach all of you?
After castration - which should be done to anyone who rapes - they should die a brutal death. Give them to the mob, that would be justice.