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Slideshow Best photos of the year 2012 Download our Wider Image iPad app Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read China chills hit 28-year low, trapping ships in ice 05 Jan 2013 Debt may influence young doctors' career plans 12:26am EST Handset makers scurry to join Year of the Phablet 06 Jan 2013 Activists wary as India rushes to justice after gang rape 06 Jan 2013 "Amour" takes U.S. film critics' top prize as best film 05 Jan 2013 Discussed 147 ”Fiscal cliff” tumble looms despite Senate efforts 119 Gun purchasers set new record in December: FBI 109 House Republicans weigh last-ditch challenge to fiscal deal Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Portfolio: Mike Cassese A showcase of the best images from Reuters photographer Mike Cassese, who passed away on December 27, 2012. Slideshow Ultra-Orthodox yoga A dozen devout Jewish men meet weekly for yoga at a studio near Jerusalem. Slideshow Activists wary as India rushes to justice after gang rape Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Suspects in India rape case appear in court 1:31am EST Analysis & Opinion Images of December Monday at SCOTUS: revisiting the Class Action Fairness Act Related Topics World » Investing and Taxes Simplified » 1 of 3. Demonstrators shout slogans as they are surrounded by the police during a protest rally in New Delhi in this December 27, 2012 file photo. It's no surprise the Indian street wants faster, harsher justice for sexual crimes after a horrific gang rape that rocked the nation, but some activists worry the government will trample fundamental rights in its rush to be in tune with popular rage. Last month's rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus and her death on December 28, 2012 in hospital triggered a national debate about how to better protect women in India, where official data shows one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes. Credit: Reuters/Adnan Abidi/Files By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI | Mon Jan 7, 2013 1:31am EST NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It's no surprise the Indian street wants faster, harsher justice for sexual crimes after a horrific gang rape that rocked the nation, but some activists worry the government will trample fundamental rights in its rush to be in tune with popular rage. Last month's rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus and her death on December 28 in hospital triggered a national debate about how to better protect women in India, where official data shows one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes. Many women's rights groups are cautiously hopeful the protests and outrage that followed the crime can be channeled into real change - fast-track courts for sexual offences and a plan to hire 2,500 new women police in Delhi are measures already in the works. But legal experts and some feminists are worried that calls to make rape punishable with death and other draconian penalties will cramp civil liberties and are unconstitutional. They say India needs better policing and prosecutions, not new laws. "If there are not enough convictions, it is not because of an insufficiency of law, but it is the insufficiency of material to base the conviction on," said retired Delhi High Court judge R.S. Sodhi. Five men have been charged with the student's rape and murder and will appear before a New Delhi court later on Monday. They are due to be tried in a newly formed fast-track court in the next few weeks. A teenager also accused will likely be tried in a juvenile court. Ahead of Monday's court appearance the five still had no defense lawyers - despite extensive interrogations by the police, who have said they have recorded confessions - after members of the bar association in the South Delhi district where the case is being heard vowed not to represent them. GROUNDS FOR APPEAL The men will be assigned lawyers by the court before the trial begins, but their lack of representation so far could give grounds for appeal later should they be found guilty - similar cases have resulted in acquittals years after convictions. "The accused has a right to a lawyer from point of arrest - the investigations are going on, statements being taken, it is totally illegal," said Colin Gonsalves, a senior Supreme Court advocate and director of Delhi's Human Rights Law Network. Senior leaders of most states on Friday came out in support of a plan to lower to 16 the age that minors can be tried as adults - in response to fury that the maximum penalty the accused youth could face is three years detention. A government panel is considering suggestions to make the death penalty mandatory for rape and introducing forms of chemical castration for the guilty. It is due to make its recommendations by January 23. "The more you strengthen the powers of the state against the people, the more the possibility you create a draconian regime," said Sehjo Singh, Programme and Policy Director with ActionAid in India and an expert on Indian women's social movements. "We want to raise the bar of human rights in India, we want to raise the standards, not lower them." The Indian Express newspaper warned against "knee-jerk" reaction and said any change to the juvenile law "must come after rigorous and considered debate. It cannot be a reaction to a fraught moment". Courts are swamped with a backlog of cases in the country of 1.2 billion people and trials often take more than five years to complete, so the launch by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir of six fast-track courts in the capital to deal with sexual offences was widely greeted as a welcome move. Several other states including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are now looking at following Delhi's example. But Gonsalves says while the courts are a good idea on paper, similar tribunals in the past delivered dubious verdicts and put financial pressure on the rest of the justice system. FAST TRACK COURTS India set up 1,700 fast-track courts in 2004, but stopped funding them last year because they turned out to be costly. The courts typically work six days a week and try to reduce adjournments that lead to long delays in cases. "The record of the fast-track courts is mixed," Gonsalves said. Conviction rates rose, he said, but due process was sometimes rushed, leading to convictions being overturned. "Fast-track courts were in many ways were fast-track injustice," he said. The real problem lie with bad policing and a shortage of judges, Gonsalves said. India has about a fifth of the number of judges per capita that the United States has. Indian police are often poorly trained and underpaid, and have sometimes been implicated in organized crime. Rights groups complain the mostly male officers are insensitive to victims of sexual crimes. Resources for, and expertise in, forensic science is limited in most of the country's police forces and confessions are often extracted under duress. The judiciary complains it is hard to convict offenders because of faulty evidence. Human Rights Watch said reforms to laws and procedures covering rape and other sexual crimes should focus on protection of witnesses and modernizing support for victims at police stations and hospitals. The rights organization has documented the continued use of archaic practices such as the "finger test" used by some doctors on rape victims to allegedly determine if they had regular sex. "Reforms in the rape laws - these are needed. But not in terms of enhancing punishment," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch. "Why they are not investigated, why there are not enough convictions, those are the things that need to be addressed." (Additional reporting by Satarupa Bhattacharjya, Shashank Chouhan and Annie Banerji; Editing by Alex Richardson) World Investing and Taxes Simplified Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. 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