Eighteen days after the horrific gang-rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student, Delhi Police on Thursday filed its charge-sheet in a court here against five men arrested in the case, slapping on them murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges. The victim, who was gang raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in the capital died on December 29 in a Singapore hospital.
The five accused, Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh and their accomplices Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur have been charge-sheeted for the offenses of murder, gang-rape, attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offenses, dacoity, hurting in committing robbery, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and common intention under the Indian Penal Code.
The sixth accused is a juvenile and proceedings against him will be conducted by the Juvenile Justice Board. In the 33-page charge-sheet, the role of the juvenile offender is also elaborated. The police filed the charge-sheet along with bulky documents, with many in sealed covers, in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Surya Malik Grover who posted it for consideration on January 5.
The Delhi police has sought direction for not disclosing the content of the FIR and for keeping it and other documents in sealed covers to protect the identity of the victim. Police said it will also place before the court the charge- sheet in electronic form.