Lawyer says police beat New Delhi gang rape suspects

(AP) — Police badly beat the five suspects arrested in the brutal gang rape and killing of a young woman on a New Delhi bus, said the lawyer for one of the men.



The lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma is accusing authorities of tampering with evidence in the case that has transfixed India.



Sharma said the five men are innocent.



Sharma said police have beaten the men and placed other prisoners into the suspects' cells to threaten them with knives.



Five men have been charged with attacking the 23-year-old woman and a male friend on a bus, as it was driven through the streets of India's capital.



The woman was raped and assaulted with a metal bar on December 16 and eventually died of her injuries.



Rape victims are not identified in India, even if they die, and rape trials are closed to the media.



Sharma, who has made a series of inflammatory and often-contradictory statements over the past two days, said the dead woman's male companion, who boarded the bus with her after the pair saw a movie together, was "responsible for the whole thing." He gave no details, though, and a few hours later said the man's responsibility "was only my opinion."



The case has sparked protests across India by women and men who say India's legal system doesn't do enough to prevent attacks on women.



The five men have been charged with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring the death penalty.



A sixth suspect, who is 17 years old, is expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.



Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said last week that a DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim matched blood stains found on the clothes of all the accused.



b> Like our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/gleanerjamaica



Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/JamaicaGleaner



editorial@gleanerjm.com