Father calls for swift justice, urges hangings as India gang-rape trial begins

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The father of a student who died after being gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi called for swift justice and for her attackers to be hanged as five men accused of her murder prepared to go on trial Monday.

A defence lawyer tried to persuade India's top court that the trial should be shifted out of the capital, but the father of the 23-year-old victim said her family would only rest once a fast-track court had handed down its verdict.

"We have finished the mourning rituals for my daughter in the village but our mourning will not end until the court passes down its verdict. My daughter's soul will only rest in peace after the court punishes the men," the father told AFP.

"It is the duty of the court and the judges to ensure that the final order to punish all the accused is handed down quickly and all the men are hanged.