File photo: Juveline accused in Delhi gang-rape case
The first verdict in the gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in Delhi in December is expected to be delivered today by a juvenile court.
The fatal attack on the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern provoked national outrage and impelled an overhaul of archaic laws to punish sexual crimes against women.
Six men were arrested for assaulting the student and her boyfriend with an iron rod. One of them was 17 at the time of the attack.
The charges against him include murder and rape, and he faces a maximum sentence of three years at a reform center. He has said he is not guilty.
The family of the young woman who died has demanded that all the accused be hanged; her parents are at the juvenile court for the verdict. Today, her mother said, "Punishment should be decided by the type of crime, not the person's age."
(read)The inquiry against the defendant, who is now 18, was completed on August 5 but the ruling was deferred repeatedly because of a Supreme Court case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy which seeks to change the legal definition of a juvenile.
Recently, the Supreme Court said the juvenile court is free to share its judgement on both the gang-rape and the charge that the defendant robbed a carpenter who boarded the same bus on the night of December 16 last year, and was thrown out before the student and her boyfriend were assaulted.
(SupremeCourt clears decks for verdict on juvenile in Delhi gang-rape case)Of the five other men who were arrested, one committed suicide in jail in March. The other four are being tried by a special fast-track court and could get the death sentence if convicted.
The verdict on them is expected in mid-September.
(Delhigang-rape case verdict likely in mid-September)