Indian court orders camera proceeding of hearings for gang rape case
时间：2013-01-08 05:19:00
搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。
（单词翻译）
NEW DELHI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Fearing that the five accused in the horrifying1 rape2 case in the Indian capital last month could be lynched by angry crowds, a local court ordered camera proceeding3 of the hearings on Monday rather than in person at the demand of police.
Police brought the five of six thugs who brutalized and killed a 23-year-old woman in a black police armored van under heavy security, but found the courtroom too crowded to guarantee security for the five accused at the Saket courtroom in southern Delhi.
Metropolitan4 Magistrate5 Namrita Aggarwal said: "An
unprecedented6 situation arises when members of bar and public persons not connected with the case also have started
converging7 the courtroom No. 207 where the present matter is going on since 12 noon."
"The courtroom has become jampacked with lots of
disturbance8 created from different nooks and corners," he said. "It has become impossible to proceed in the case. I am passing order for in- camera proceeding. It shall not be
lawful9 to print and publish any article in media without court permission."
Police have filed
lawsuit10 against the five for murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and destruction of evidence, which could lead to death sentence.
The sixth accused, who is 17 years and six months old according to his school certificates, will be presented before a
juvenile11 justice board.
Angry protests have been going on in the Indian capital for more than three weeks since the rape was committed.
The protesters demanded quick justice for the victim by giving the harshest punishment to the six thugs involved in the case.
Meanwhile, local public opinion has also been critical of police
tardiness12 in
helping13 the victim in that horror night, as was revealed by the boyfriend of the victim on a local TV channel three days ago.
Police denied the criticism and said they came to the help of the victims in no time.
The gang rape case has become a highly sensitive political issue in India as well, as some have expressed
arrogance14 of
judicial15 authorities in
dealing16 with the case.
Media reports said some of the accused are even trying to take advantage of the loopholes of the judicial system to escape punishment.
Two of the accused wanted to become state witnesses so that they could be given
leniency17, according to local media reports.
Two other accused, including the driver of the horror bus,
Ram18 Singh, have asked for judicial support.
Some lawyers have angrily retorted at least one lawyer at the site of the Saket Court Complex in south Delhi, where the procedure was due to open Monday, for trying to give
defense19 to the accused.
Public anger is also focused on a Hindu guru who said the victim of the gang rape was "as guilty as" her attackers, because she should have begged for pardon from her assaulters rather than fighting with them.
分享到：
