Indian gang rape accused tortured by police, says defense lawyer

Protesters shield themselves as Indian police beat them with sticks during a violent demonstration near the India Gate against a gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus last week, in New Delhi, India. (Xinhua)

A lawyer defending three of the six accused in last month's horrific New Delhi gang rape case alleged on Thursday that police have tortured his clients in a bid to coerce them into admitting the crime even as a fast-track court trying them adjourned the case till Monday.

"All the accused have been badly beaten by the police and they have used the third degree to extract the statement that suits the evidence they have collected. My clients have been forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit," defense lawyer M.L. Sharma told the media outside Saket District Court in southern Delhi.

Sharma intends to represent three of the six accused -- main accused Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh and Akshay Thakur.

While another lawyer, Vivek Sharma, is likely to represent the fourth accused Pawan Gupta. It is not clear who is going to defend the fifth suspect Vinay Sharma. The sixth accused, a 17-year-old, is likely to be tried in a youth court if proved he is a minor, according to Indian juvenile justice system which has separate laws for those below 18 years of age.

Meanwhile, the special court posted the matter for Monday after the five of the six accused, who have been charged with abduction, rape and murder of the 23-year-old Delhi University medical student, were produced before it Thursday morning.

The woman was gang raped by the six men on a moving bus on December 16 last year and then mercilessly beaten up, along with her boyfriend, before being thrown off the vehicle. She later died of her injuries and multiple organ failure at a hospital in Singapore where she was taken for treatment earlier this month by the Indian government.

The case has shocked India where a female is raped every 22 minutes, according to statistics.

If convicted, the five accused may be given death penalty while the sixth accused, if proved to be a minor, may get a maximum punishment of three years.