A special fast-track court has been set up in Delhi to deal with the case of the men who have been accused of raping the female student, who was reportedly just 17 years old and died later from her injuries.
The decision was made to hold the trial behind closed doors due to the protests and outrage from Indian citizens who reacted with horror at the case. Violence against women in India has become a hot-button topic after years of unreported abuse and police corruption.
Reporters and TV news representatives have been barred from attending the trial. Defence lawyers have claimed that the police beat the accused and subjected them to ‘torture’ in order to get confessions, according to The Guardian.
Prosecuters have claimed that DNA evidence links the accused men to the scene of the crime. The attack took place on December 16, 2012.
“These (fast-track-court) gimmicks do not work. They have not worked in the past,” said lawyer and women’s rights activist Vrinda Grover, according to the Washington Post.
