A gang of rapists who savagely assaulted a woman on a bus in New Delhi last month tried to run her over after the attack which left her fatally injured, reports said Wednesday, citing a police account of the incident.

Her boyfriend, who was beaten up and thrown off the bus after the woman had been repeatedly raped, managed to pull her to safety just in time, police are set to allege in a 1,000-page charge sheet to be presented in court on Thursday.

The 23-year-old female medical student, whose ordeal has brought simmering anger about widespread sex crime in India to the boil, bit three of her attackers as she attempted to fight them off, local newspapers and TV reports said.

These injuries on the suspects, as well as forensic evidence such as blood, semen and hair samples and the testimony of the injured boyfriend, are expected to form the main evidence against the accused, reports and police sources said.

Five men have been arrested and are expected on Thursday to formally face murder and rape charges in a fast-track court set up to try them.

India‘s Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Tuesday that the suspects risked the death penalty if found guilty and the case against them appeared very strong.

A sixth suspect is thought to be aged 17, meaning he would face a juveniles’ court, but he is undergoing a bone test to determine his age, a spokesman in the Delhi police control room told AFP on Wednesday.

“The woman and her friend were stripped and thrown out of the bus,” The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. “Her friend pulled her away when he saw the bus reversing to run her over.”

The Times of India newspaper said the charge sheet was likely to begin withdetails on how the driver of the private vehicle, who allegedly took part in the rape, got his group of friends together and set out for a joyride.

One of the charges against the accused relates to the destruction of evidence, the paper said, since the driver had tried to wash the bus and had burned the clothes that were snatched from the victim.

The woman died at the weekend after a 13-day struggle to survive injuries so grievous that her intestines had to be removed. She also underwent three major surgeries and suffered a cardiac arrest before being flown to Singapore.

The brutality and horrific nature of the attack has led to protests in the capital and elsewhere, and has prompted calls for the death penalty for the rapists.

The government, which has faced a wave of public anger over the attack, on Tuesday set up a special 13-member committee to look into safety issues and review the functioning of Delhi police on a regular basis.

A panel to recommend changes to the criminal law dealing with sexual crimes was set up last week.

Junior Education Minister Shashi Tharoor sparked a debate Wednesday when he suggested that a proposed new anti-rape law to toughen sentences against sex offenders be named after the dead student.

While much of her identity is known, her name has not been disclosed.

“Unless her parents object, she should be honoured and the revised anti-rape law named after her,” Tharoor wrote on Twitter.

Victims of sex crimes are granted anonymity to avoid them or their families facing stigma from the crime. (AP)

 

<관련 한글 기사>

印 집단 성폭행범, 더 끔찍한 만행 저질러

버스에서 여성을 성폭행한 집단이 범행 직후 피해자를 차로 치고 지나가려고 했다고 경찰이 수요일 밝혔다.

피해 여성과 남자친구는 옷이 벗겨진 채 버스 밖으로 내던져졌으며 피해자를 치기 위해 버스가 뒤로 돌진하는 것을 보고 남자친구가 그를 잡아당겨 구했다고 경찰이 밝혔다.

용의자 중 5명의 남성은 구속되었고 오는 목요일 살인과 성폭행한 죄로 법원에서 재판을 받을 예정이다.

인도의 내무부 장관 수실쿠마 신데는 혐의자들이 유죄로 판명 난다면 사형을 면할 수 없을 것으로 보인다고 말했다.

여섯번째 혐의자는 17세로 추정되고 있어 정확한 연령 평가 후에 유죄로 판명되면 소년법원으로 이송될 것이라고 델리 경찰서의 대변인이 AFP에게 수요일날 말했다.

타임스오브인디아는 사건기록부가 버스의 운전기사, 성폭행에 가담한 사람, 등 사건의 구체적인 사항을 조사할 것이라고 밝혔다.

용의자들의 여러 혐의 중 하나는 증거 인멸로 버스 운전기사가 여성의 옷을 불태운 흔적이 보인다고 신문은 밝혔다.

여성은 극심한 부상을 입고 내장을 제거했으나 13일 만에 세상을 떠났다. 또한 그녀는 세 번의 대수술을 받았으며 싱가폴로 이송 되기 전에 심근경색 증상을 보였다.

끔찍한 이번 성폭행 사건은 도심을 비롯하여 여러 도시에서 시위가 일어났으며 가해자들에 대한 처형을 시행할 것을 촉구했다.

인도 정부는 대중의 안전을 관리하기 위해 델리 경찰서를 정기적으로 순찰하는 13 명의 특별 위원회를 설립했다.

그녀의 신분은 많이 알려졌지만 이름은 밝혀지지 않았다.

“피해자의 부모가 반대하지 않는 이상, 그녀는 추모되어야 하고 성폭행 반대 법안이 그녀 이름으로 수정되어야 할 것이다,"고 교육 장관 사루르가 말했다.

성폭행 피해자들은 남은 가족들이 오명을 입지 않기 위해 익명성이 보장되고 있다. (코리아헤럴드)