New Delhi Gang-Rape Case Is Expected to Move to Fast-Track Court

Manish Swarup/Associated Press The district court in south Delhi where a fast-track court was inaugurated on Wednesday to hear cases of crimes against women.

NEW DELHI â€" Two weeks after court proceedings began against the five men accused in a gang rape that sparked widespread protests in India, the case is scheduled to be moved to a special fast-track court created for rape cases, defense lawyers said Thursday.

A lawyer for one of the defendants said he hoped to keep the case out of that court altogether and would appeal to the Supreme Court to move the legal proceedings out of Delhi.

V. K. Anand, the lawyerfor Ram Singh, who is accused of driving the bus in which the gang rape took place, said he will file an application with the Supreme Court to move the case outside Delhi, where the victim was brutally assaulted, and the state of Uttar Pradesh. The victim’s male companion, who was also beaten, was from Uttar Pradesh, he explained, so he did not believe that his client would get a fair trial in either place.

However, A. P. Singh, who represents two of the defendants, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur, said that he’s hoping for a speedy trial. “At the next hearing, the case must be transferred to the fast-track court,” he said.

Speaking outside the Saket District Court complex, where initial court proceedings are being held, Mr. Anand said he also plans to contest a magistrate’s order that the trial be closed to outsiders, including the media. Mr. Anand said he was contesting the order to ensure a fair trial.

Lawyers for the five men, except for on! e advocate, M. L. Sharma, have also asked the court that their clients not be handcuffed during the trial.

“They’re not habitual offenders,” Mr. Singh said Thursday. “They do not make any attempt to run away from judicial custody. They also haven’t made any suicide attempts. They don’t need handcuffs.”

The five men, who are also facing charges of murder and kidnapping, were escorted by police into the courtroom Thursday afternoon, their faces wrapped in cloth. At the hearing, which lasted a little over an hour, lawyers for the accused received new versions of the police charge sheet against the five men, which they had complained earlier was illegible, as well as photographs of the victim and her companion’s cellphones. A CD with surveillance video of the airport hotel where the bus had stopped was also provided to them, the defense lawyers said.

Mr. Singh said Vinay Sharma had been tortured over the last two days at Tihar Jail, where he is being held. Mr. Sharma was not inolved in the brutal assault and had not even been on the bus in which the victim had been attacked, he said.

Mr. Thakur, his other client, was on the bus but hadn’t been involved in the gang rape, Mr. Singh said.

Mr. Singh said the two men had no criminal history and were innocent. “They are innocent and want to live,” he said. “Everyone has a right to live.”

The next court hearing is scheduled for Monday, and lawyers said they expected the case to be moved to a fast-track court on the same day, despite Mr. Anand’s petition.