Gangrape: accused seeks nutritious food, newspapers in jail

One of the four accused in the December 16 gangrape case today sought a direction from a special court here that he be provided nutritious food inside Tihar jail as he has to prepare for tests for recruitment of clerks in Indian Air Force.
Vinay Sharma, the accused who along with others had allegedly gangraped the 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here, moved the plea before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna and sought "proper food and newspapers" inside jail.
The court sent the application to the jail authorities for their comments.
Meanwhile, the judge also took strong note of the fact that defence lawyers come late to attend the proceedings and cautioned them that it was the last warning and that they could be replaced.

"I am observing that the defence counsel are coming as per their choice. They (defence counsel) should understand that they are dealing with a very serious case. They are taking the court for granted.
"I will write to Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to provide counsel to accused if in future also, the counsel reach late. It cannot go on like this. Please make sure that from tomorrow, you (defence counsel) are on time," the judge said.

The proceedings today got delayed by 45 minutes as the counsel for accused Pawan Gupta and Vinay came late.
Later, a lawyer for accused Mukesh and Akshay Singh today refused to cross-examine the witnesses and said he start from tomorrow.

The lawyer also said he has been given time till April 4 to file an appeal in the Delhi High Court against the order by which his application seeking documents in Hindi was rejected.