Protest against the gang-rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai on Friday
As Mumbai reeled on Friday from the shock of a 22-year-old photojournalist being gang-raped in the heart of the city, in Delhi a special court began to hear the final arguments in the December 16 gang-rape case.
More than one person has since yesterday pointed to the chilling similarities in the brutal attacks on the two young women, eight months and many miles apart. Asking the question - has anything changed for women since?
Mumbai's police commissioner, promising to knit a strong case against the men accused of raping the photojournalist also requested yesterday that a fast-track court deal with the case.
The Delhi gang-rape case is being tried by a fast track court. On December 16 2012, six men brutally raped a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus. She died two weeks later.
Within days of the incident the police had arrested six men, five adults and one minor, and filed a 33-page chargesheet against the five adult accused - Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma.
The trial began on January 3 when the police filed the chargesheet.
On March 11, Ram Singh, said to be the ringleader in the gang-rape, was found dead at Delhi's Tihar Jail under mysterious circumstances. Amid accusations of foul play by his family, proceedings against him were wound up.
It has already been eight months since the rape and questions are being asked on how fast is fast track. As per the law, the case is being heard on daily basis. But those watching proceedings say much of the delay is because the defence counsels have tried delay tactics. They have often been rebuked by the court for this.
In the past few months three of the accused - Vinay, Pawan and Akshay - have refuted the statements they made when charges were being framed against them.
Then, each had claimed that he was in the bus on that Sunday evening in December but did not rape the girl. Now, each claims that he was not on the bus at all.
The prosecution hopes that the trial will be over by the end of this month.
Verdict is also expected on August 31 on the alleged role of the one minor being tried by the juvenile justice board. There have been many demands, also from the parents of the medical student, that he be tried as an adult as his alleged crime was no less heinous.