Indian rape suspects formally charged in New Delhi

The fast-track court in New Delhi will hear formal charges in the case of five Indian men accused of rape and murder. The men were charged in court on January 3 with the gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student, in a case that has generated widespread anger about the government's inability to prevent violence against women. The attack of December 16 2012 on the 23-year-old student and a male companion provoked protests close to the seat of government in New Delhi and has fuelled a nationwide debate about the prevalence of sexual crime in India, where a rape is reported on average every 20 minutes. The woman died of her injuries in hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for treatment. The five are accused of assaulting the woman on a bus in New Delhi, leaving her with such severe injuries that she died two weeks later. A sixth accused is under 18 and is due to be tried separately in a juvenile court.