AFP/New Delhi

A magistrate sitting at a district court in the Saket area of southern Delhi committed the five defendants to a more senior sessions court which is authorised to handle such cases and which will begin its hearings next Monday.

“The magistrate has committed the case to the sessions court which is fast-track,” Sadashiv Gupta, the lawyer for fruit-seller Pawan Kumar, told reporters outside the court.

The court would hold its first hearing on the case on January 21, Gupta added.

Kumar and four other adults are all accused of murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping in connection with the attack on the 23-year-old physiotherapy student on December 16.

The case against a sixth defendant, who says he is 17, is being heard separately by a juvenile court.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died 13 days later in a Singapore hospital from intestinal injuries sustained during the assault in which she was also violated with a rusting iron bar.

A male companion, with whom she had spent the evening at the cinema, was also badly injured in the attack which ended when the pair were thrown off the bus.

Speaking before the magistrate moved the case, another of the defence team said his client had been badly beaten up in jail by fellow prisoners.

A P Singh told reporters that his client Vinay Sharma, a gym instructor, was in agony when he appeared before the district court yesterday.

“Vinay Sharma was badly tortured in jail by other inmates who pounced on him. He was not in a position to stand up in court because he was in great pain,” Singh said.

“It is sad the jail authorities cannot provide security to them,” he added.

The prosecution had requested the five adult defendants to be handcuffed while in custody on the grounds that they were dangerous, but defence lawyer Gupta said the court had rejected such a move.

“The handcuffing of the suspects has been rejected as per our application opposing handcuffing,” he said outside the court.