Judge sends India rape case to fast-track court

The brutal rape of the 23-year-old student last month set off protests in New Delhi and sparked a national debate about the treatment of women across the country and the inability of law enforcement to protect them.

In an effort to address some of that criticism, the government set up five fast-track courts in the capital in recent weeks to deal swiftly with crimes against women. Authorities were eager to move the case into one of those courts, which are designed to avoid the delays, incompetence and corruption that plague much of India's legal system.

In a hearing Thursday, Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal sent the rape case to a fast-track court and set a hearing for Monday there. A sixth suspect in the attack claims to be a juvenile and his case is being handled separately.

Lawyers for the five have said police mistreated their clients, including beating them to force them to confess to the Dec. 16 crime.

V.K. Anand, a lawyer for one of the defendants, said Thursday that he would petition the Supreme Court to have the rape trial moved out of New Delhi because he doesn't believe his client could get a fair hearing in the capital.

Police say the victim and a male friend were heading home from an evening movie when they boarded a bus, where they were attacked by the six assailants. The attackers beat the man and took turns raping the woman and penetrated her repeatedly with a metal bar, causing massive internal injuries, police said. During the attack, the bus drove through a series of police checkpoints without incident, police said.

The victims were eventually dumped on the roadside, and the woman died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

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