Jyoti Singh Pandey was gang raped and beaten by 6 men, for two and a half hours on a public bus in New Delhi.
In a statement taken as she was being treated in hospital, she said she had been raped by all of the accused and subjected to an attack with an iron bar which destroyed her bowels and intestines. She died 13 days later in a hospital in Singapore.
-- The Telegraph
The attack happened December 16, 2012, as she was on her was home from the cinema with a friend. She died December 29, 2012.
Two of the accused have the same lawyer (AP Singh), and he is, as one expects, fighting hard for his clients.
Currently of the 6 accused and arrested for the rape, kidnapping, beating and murder of Pandey, 5 are being charged as adults, 1 as a juvenile. Singh is arguing that since one of his clients is 17, he should actually be charged as a juvenile too.
Besides which he wasn't even there at the time.
Of his other client, Akshay Thakur, Singh states that he was only a cleaner of the bus and did not rape or assault Pandey. He only witnessed a quarrel.
When asked then to explain the injuries and the evidence of semen on the bus, Mr. Singh replied "anything can happen in a quarrel." He then went further:
"The rod was not intended to kill, there was no intention to murder...[the removal of] 95 per cent of the intestines is not intention to murder," he said. "There is no evidence of rape or that she was killed because of assault."
-- The Telegraph
Had they really wanted to kill her they would have "
strangled her or attacked another of her vital organs, he said.
Singh is arguing that Thakur and the other defendants are guilty, at worst, of 'culpable homicide.' If found guilty of this charge it is a sentence of 7-10 years. Many parts of India are calling for the death penalty.
The trial began today, with motions for a change of venue.