Sudden current ran through my body in disbelief: Delhi gang-rape victim's father

A teenager accused of taking part in the gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus was declared a minor by a court on Monday, meaning he will face a maximum of only three years in custody if convicted.

The father of the 23-year-old victim, reacted with astonishment to the ruling. "A sudden current ran through my body in disbelief," he said. "How can they declare him a minor? Do they not see what they did?"

The boy, who claimed to be 17, is alleged to have been the most violent of the six attackers. Campaigners, some of whom have demanded the death penalty for those convicted, demanded that he have bone tests to establish his age.

According to a lawyer for the boy, the court decided to accept the date of birth registered with his former school after hearing evidence from its head teacher.

"The court has gone as per the school record. Only if it is not satisfied with the school records, can it ask for a bone test," Ishkaran Bhandari said.

The brutality of the attack provoked protests throughout India. She was raped and assaulted with an iron rod after she and a friend boarded a bus on their way home from the cinema. The ordeal lasted more than an hour before they were thrown naked from the bus. She died 13 days after the attack in a hospital in Singapore.

The trial of the five men accused of the rape and murder continues next week when the court is expected to finalise the charges.