Fast Track Court for rape-trial suspects
January 2, 2013, 12:20 pm

Students in New Delhi protesting against current rape laws. [Getty Images]

Amanat was raped on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16 by six drunk men – her identity has not been revealed.

The incident has triggered massive protests on the streets of new Delhi and other cities of India.

Amanat died in a Singapore hospital on Sunday morning. She underwent three major surgeries in less than two weeks, including one to have her intestines removed, suffered a cardiac arrest as well as brain damage.

A 1,000-page chargesheet is being filed by the Delhi Police on Thursday, after which the case would be shifted to the fast-track court for daily hearings.

City authorities have also launched a 24-hour helpline number 181 which will operate out of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s office and will be connected with all the 185 police stations across the city.

The India Government is looking at a revised anti-rape law, which is expected to be stringent and facilitate speedier justice.

The new law will be framed after Justice Verma Committee, which was constituted to suggest the possible amendments of criminal law to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment to criminals in cases of sexual assault against women, submits its report by the end of January.

While the figures for crimes against women in India are appalling (24,206 reported in 2011), figures elsewhere in the world cut an equally abysmal figure.

The UK Government’s Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Girls puts the figure of women raped a year at 80,000.

In the US only 24 per cent of the alleged rapes result in an arrest, let alone a conviction.

An explosive new report by Rape Crisis Scotland shows they took a staggering 12,000 calls from anguished victims in 2012.

With inputs from Agencies