New Delhi:
Vinay Sharma, one of the five adult men accused of raping a medical student on a bus in Delhi last December, was produced at the fast track court hearing the case with a fractured right hand today. His lawyer has alleged that Vinay was beaten up "by other inmates and police officials" at Tihar Jail, where he is lodged.
The lawyer, AP Singh, also said outside court, "Vinay was supposed to give exams for the Indian Air Force. His right hand is broken. He was transferred to the hospital and today he appeared in court with a fracture."
Last month, Ram Singh, the driver of the bus in which the student was brutally raped and tortured by six men, was found hanging in his cell in Tihar. Jail authorities said he had committed suicide, but his family alleged that he had been murdered. The sixth attacker, a minor, is being tried by a juvenile court.
The lawyer also alleged today that another man accused in the case, Akshay Thakur, was assaulted in jail a few days ago. "The situation is getting worse in the jail," Mr Singh said.
After Ram Singh's death, the lawyers of the other four accused lodged at Tihar, among them Ram Singh's brother, pleaded in court that their clients be shifted from the high-security Delhi prison as other inmates routinely abused and threatened them. The court had turned down the plea but asked the police and jail authorities to ensure that they were provided with adequate security.
A few months ago the police had given the men extra security on their way from prison to court for daily hearings in the case after allegedly intercepting calls that mentioned a threat to their life.
The 23-year-old paramedical student was gang-raped and thrown out of the moving bus in the heart of Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died of her grievous injuries 13 days later in a Singapore hospital. All the men have been charged with murder.