Delhi rape case: Five accused plead not guilty

[alp227]

Source: BBC

Five men have pleaded not guilty to the rape and murder of a female student in a Delhi bus in December, one of the men's lawyers has said.

The men signed statements to say they were innocent after being formally charged in a fast-track court.

The court will begin hearing evidence from witnesses on Tuesday.

The brutal gang-rape caused outrage across the country, sparking nationwide protests and calls for the death penalty for rapists.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21304016

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The accompanying photo:



(On edit) Found this story from December from the Wikipedia article about the 2012 Delhi gang rape:

Yesterday some of the accused were brought before a court in Delhi. According to the Press Trust of India, one of the men, Pawan Gupta, said: “I accept I am guilty, I should be hanged.”

(Edit #2) OH GRAB THE POPCORN. India Today reports that two of the suspects are trying to get lighter sentences by cooperating with prosecutors:

Out of four accused, who were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Jyoti Kler inside her chamber after expiry of their 14-days of judicial remand, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma refused to take the service of legal aid counsel and expressed their willingness to become witnesses in the gangrape-cum-murder case.

But the police ain't buying it.

[Skittles]

1. perhaps Mr. Gupta will testify

hard to even read anything about this case

[iandhr]

2. Just a horrible crime.

[aquart]

3. If there was honor in India, their fathers would kill these scum.

But there is no honor in a penis.

[freshwest]

4. No often one sees women calling for the death penalty.

But this was certainly one of the most brutal murders ever committed. It was torture, mutilation and degradation of the human body, especially the female body of the first order.

They were riding on a private bus looking for victims, perhaps. It's possible this wasn't the first time for any of these men savaging a woman and attacking the man who tried to protect her. Someone wrote that the woman's only crime was trying to be out in public, enjoying life.

Whether these men have diminished intelligence, some sort of drug habit or other temporary influence, I don't know and it doesn't matter. That's not the way a human should treat any person or animal or thing at any time. Where could they have been taught to do this?

It is total destruction and blood lust. I can't see that society has any chance of being able to teach them differently. It's an awful thing, but I think they should simply be removed from the realm of the living as they crossed too many lines.

[alp227]

7. The rape crew robbed & abandoned a passenger beforehand.

From the wikipedia article linked:

With Mukesh Singh driving, they first picked up a carpenter who was charged Rs. 10 for a ticket and then robbed of Rs. 8,000 and ejected in South Delhi. [46] They then turned back and a half hour later, picked up the couple who were charged Rs. 10 each.

[freshwest]

8. So, literally driving around to find people who thought it was a public bus to do this?

That's for that addition, I didn't want to go the Wiki page as I'd seen all the gory details in the India Today piece a while back and it was hellish. It makes one wonder if this is the only organized gang doing this. The government is corrupt, to turn a blind eye to gangs like this that should have been stopped before this.

I saw following the first link that when a woman goes to the police to report a rape, she gets raped again. My heart breaks for the vulnerable in India and in the world - not just in the cities by the countryside. And this is worldwide. And we have our own versions of this.

After a while people throw up their hands and want them dead. Years ago, I read that was one of the critieria for the death penalty being applied - did the jury think that the person would kill again. If no, they would not sentence them to death. If yes, they would. These guys would do it again and I can only hope that people will wake up and stop these criminals.

[JI7]

5. the one that admitted his guilt most likely did so

because he was going to be dead either way.

[JI7]

6. they need to show their faces

why are they allowed to hide their faces