New Delhi: Delhi Police on Thursday filed charges of murder, kidnapping and rape against five men accused of assaulting a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in the national capital on 16 December.
The woman succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital on Saturday. The brutal assault on the victim led to outrage across the country and had both politicians and the civil society demanding death sentences in rape cases.
In its charge-sheet filed before a city court, Delhi Police sought death for the five accused. A sixth accused is said to be a minor and the same charges cannot be applied to him under Indian law. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Meanwhile, the Union home ministry has directed the police to depute at least two women sub-inspectors and at least seven women constables in each police station in the capital. Union home secretary R.K. Singh on Thursday convened the first meeting of the special task force constituted to review safety measures for women in the capital. A separate meeting of state police heads will be held on Friday.
In another development, a parliamentary panel, which examined the bus licensing system in Delhi, has decided to summon Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and transport officials of the centre and the state soon.
