Legal delay could hold up India rape case
Defence lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma lodged an appeal in the Delhi court claiming his client, supposedly 26, was under 18. The move could take the case off India’s “fast-track” justice system and plunge it into the normal legal morass in which trials can sometimes take years. The five men charged over last month’s attack of the 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi would face a possible death penalty if convicted.
The rape of the woman, and the brutal beating that led to her death set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.
