New Delhi:
Three of the six men accused of brutally raping a medical student in a moving bus on Sunday confessed to their crime in a Delhi court today. "I accept I am guilty. I should be hanged," said Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller. The victim, meanwhile, is still in hospital battling for her life.
Here are the latest developments in the case:
Pawan Gupta brought to court today along with two other men arrested for the rape - Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, the man who was driving the bus used in the attack that has shamed and incensed India. "We hit the boy but not the girl," said Vinay, who worked at a gym.
Of the four men arrested so far, only one - Mukesh - has agreed to participate in an identification parade. Pawan and Vinay, meanwhile, have been sent to police custody for four days.
Police teams are searching for the remaining accused in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.
The Delhi High Court today had scathing feedback for the Delhi Police Commissioner. "People are losing faith in the police and judiciary. What was the police doing before this incident?" the court asked. It has asked for a report in two days on the investigation. The court sanctioned five fast-track courts to deal with rape cases.
But the judges also pointed out that the bus involved in the gang-rape went through five police check-points "and nobody stopped it." The judges warned that "those responsible must be punished."
In Parliament today, the Home Minister shared a plan of action to improve security for women in Delhi. He said vehicles with tinted windows will be impounded immediately, and that police patrolling at night will be increased. All buses will need to display photo IDs of the driver and any other staffer like a cleaner or conductor, he said.
Outside Parliament this morning, angry women MPs from the BJP and its allies protested against the government's failure to protect women in the capital. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj reiterated her demand to introduce the death penalty for rapists.
In Delhi, police used water cannons to stop protesters who tried to march to the home of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today. The demonstrators, shouting slogans against Ms Dikshit, were demanding urgent measures to improve security for women in the capital. They also said she should resign.
The bus used in Sunday night's grotesque attack was contracted by a school from a private operator. A man named Ram Singh was employed by the operator to drive the bus. On Sunday night, he was on the bus but his brother, Mukesh, was allegedly driving the vehicle. Ram Singh has refused to undergo a test identification parade.
Ram Singh, the regular driver of the bus, was allegedly involved in a major accident in 2009; the police says he was not fit to drive after that.
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