New Delhi:
A juveniles' court in Delhi is set to hand down the first verdict next week over December's fatal gang-rape of a student which provoked mass protests and new laws to punish crimes against women.
The court has been hearing the case of a teenager, aged 17 at the time of the crime, who was one of six suspects arrested after a physiotherapy trainee and her male friend were assaulted on a moving bus with an iron rod before she was raped. She died in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.
"Arguments will be held first and then the judgement will be out," said defence lawyer Rajesh Tiwari, saying the verdict would be delivered on July 11.
The juveniles' court can award a maximum term of three years to the suspect if he is convicted as the crime was committed when he was under 18.
Five other men were initially put on trial for the gang-rape and murder of the 23-year-old student. One of them, Ram Singh, the alleged gang leader and the regular driver of the bus, died in Tihar Jail in March after a suspected suicide.
The remaining four suspects are being tried in a special court set up to fast-track the case.
The victim's family has been among those calling for the juvenile to be tried alongside the four other accused, who face the possibility of being hanged if found guilty of rape and murder charges.
But the Delhi-based Juvenile Justice Board accepted the school records of the teenage suspect, which states that he was born in 1995, making him 17 at the time of the crime.