Delhi Rape Accused Arrive in Court

The five men accused of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi arrived in court on Monday to hear the charges against them, which include charges of rape, murder, and abduction. The magistrate ordered that the court be closed to the media and cleared for the safety of the accused men. The five men have no lawyers, and members of the bar association in the Saket district, where the case is being held, have vowed not to represent them. Even so, police say they have recorded confessions, and two of the accused have offered to be informers against the other defendants in exchange for less-severe sentences. But a prosecutor said, “The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty.”