Delhi gang-rape: Trial begins, victim’s friend testifies

New Delhi  :  The trial in the Delhi gang-rape case formally began against the five accused in a fast track court here Tuesday with the 28-year-old male friend of the victim testifying in court and police filing the woman’s autopsy report.

The witness, a software engineer, came to court on a wheelchair, accompanied by his father.

The fast track court of Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna started day-to-day trial in the case after it framed charges of murder, gang-rape and kidnapping, among others, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against five of the six accused.

The case of the sixth accused, a minor, is being heard by the Juvenile Justice Board.

Police filed a supplementary charge sheet that included the autopsy report of the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who was gang-raped by the six men Dec 16, 2012, in a moving bus. She died Dec 29 in a Singapore hospital.

The gang-rape victim’s friend, who appeared as a witness, boarded the bus with her before the attack, police said.

The accused men gang-raped the woman and also assaulted her male friend and both were thrown out of the bus after around 40 minutes, naked, bleeding and shivering, police said.

The other charges framed against the accused are unnatural offence, destruction of evidence, attempt to murder, causing hurt while committing robbery, dacoity with murder, and common intent. The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court had earlier restricted media from reporting the proceedings in the case and ordered in-camera trial.