{{India Police said a man on trial for the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus has committed suicide in an Indian jail, but his lawyer and family allege he was killed.}}
Ram Singh, who was accused of driving the bus on which the 23-year-old student was raped by a group of six men in December, was under suicide watch at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail when he hanged himself on Monday with his own clothes at about 5:30 am, police officials said.
His death is raising further questions about a criminal justice system already being criticised for failing to protect the nation’s women.
Singh and his four fellow defendants were facing the death penalty if convicted of the attack, which horrified Indians and set off national protests. A sixth accused is being tried and jailed separately because he is a juvenile.
India’s deputy home minister, R P N Singh, said an inquiry had been ordered into the suicide, according to the Press Trust of India.
Ram Singh’s family and lawyer alleged foul play in his death.
“There were no circumstances which could have led to Ram Singh committing suicide. There was no mental stress. He was very happy,” his lawyer VK Anand said.
Lawyers for the defendants had previously accused police of beating confessions out of the men.
Ram Singh’s father, Mangelal Singh, said his son had been raped in prison by other inmates and had been repeatedly threatened by inmates and guards.
Nevertheless, he said he visited his son four days ago and the man appeared fine and gave no hint of the despair that could drive him to take his own life.
Ram Singh, 34, also had a badly injured hand and would have been unable to orchestrate a suicide, his father said, speaking from outside his small home in a New Delhi slum.
“Somebody has killed him,” he said, insisting he would push for a top level investigation into the death.
Mangelal Singh said he feared for the safety of another son who is also on trial in the rape case.
{Aljazeera}
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