Forensic evidence from the bus in which a 23-year-old Delhi student was gang-raped links the scene of the crime with men accused of her attack, a public prosecutor in the Indian capital claimed on Saturday. 
 
 Feelings are still running high in India following the incident three weeks ago, with calls for reforms of laws and policing, and a continuing debate on attitudes towards women. 
 
 Five men charged with rape and murder have been ordered to appear in court on Monday. It will be their first public appearance since being detained two days after the attack. They face the death penalty. 
 
 Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told a judge in the south Delhi suburb of Saket that the men had attempted to destroy evidence by burning their clothes, but that parts of the burnt material had been found to have traces of blood from the victim, who died in a Singapore hospital eight days ago. 
 
 The men's trial is due to start in a week, in a new fast-track court inaugurated last week specifically to deal with sexual violence against women. The accused, aged between 19 and 35, are currently being held at Delhi's Tihar prisons. A youth alleged to have taken part in the 16 December assault will be tried separately. 
 
 In his first interview since the attack the male friend of the victim has described how passersby left the pair lying unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour. 
 
 The graphic account in a television interview is likely to add fuel to public anger at the death, in a country where official statistics show that a rape is reported every 20 minutes and where sexual harassment of women in public places is systematic. 
 
 The woman's friend told the ZeeNews TV network that he was beaten unconscious before the pair were thrown off a bus they had boarded in the mistaken belief it would take them home after an evening watching the film Life of Pi at a nearby shopping centre cinema. The woman was raped for more than an hour and suffered internal injuries after an assault with an iron bar. 
 
 The pair lay on the roadside for about 45 minutes before three police vans arrived. Officers then spent a long time arguing about where to take them, the man said. "We kept shouting at the police, 'Please give us some clothes,' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at," he said. Eventually, the officers fetched a sheet from a nearby hotel. He said they carried the victims to a police vehicle, despite their injuries. 
 
 Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said records showed the first police van reaching the scene four minutes after it was called. He said it left after seven minutes and arrived at a hospital within 24 minutes. 
 
 The friend described the pair's attempts to call for help during the attack. "We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus," he said, according to a transcript of the interview. 
 
 When they were finally thrown out at a roadside near the city's airport, they pleaded with passersby for help, he added in the studio interview. A blue metal crutch was leaning against his chair. 
 
 "There were a few people who had gathered round, but nobody helped. My friend was grievously injured and bleeding profusely. We were without clothes. We tried to stop passersby. Several auto-rickshaws, cars and bikes slowed down but none stopped for about 25 minutes. Then someone called the police," he said. The man also criticised delays and care at the public hospital where the pair were taken. He said they were again left without clothes or treatment for a long time. 
 
 Neither the woman nor her friend have been named and the TV channel that ran the interview is under investigation by police, who claim it has threatened their anonymity. 
 
 His revelations will fuel further criticism of authorities in India, who have alternated between promises of reform and a barely disguised contempt for the largely urban middle-class protesters who have taken to the streets over recent weeks. Huge gaps in the provision of security, healthcare and other basic services supposedly provided by the state have been exposed by the tragedy, deepening public anger. 
 
 Underground railway stations in Delhi have been closed to prevent gatherings in the city centre. Thousands of police were deployed to protect parliament buildings and the homes of senior officials after the news of the attack spread. Analysts point to a growing gulf between a government used to a traditional opaque and paternalist style of politics and the accountability demanded by new voters. 
 
 The victim's friend called on the protests to continue. "If you can help someone, help them. If a single person had helped me that night, things would have been different. There is no need to close metro stations and stop the public from expressing themselves. People should be allowed to have faith in the system," he said. 
 
 He also said he wished people had come to his friend's help when she needed it: "You have to help people on the road when they need help." 
 
 According to Indian newspapers, the victim had to give a detailed statement twice because of an administrative dispute between officials. Her friend said he lay on a stretcher for four days in a police station without medical assistance after the attack. ||||| Image caption The case has caused outrage in India, with demands for greater protection 
 
 DNA tests have linked five men with a gang rape and murder last month that has caused outrage in India, a court in Delhi has heard. 
 
 The pre-trial hearing was held at the District Court in the Saket area of the Indian capital. 
 
 The judge ordered the five to appear before her on Monday. A sixth suspect is expected to be tried as a juvenile. 
 
 The woman, 23, died last weekend. Her friend has been recalling the harrowing details of the attack on a bus. 
 
 The man, who has not been named, told Zee News how he and the victim had boarded the bus and paid a fare, before he was beaten unconscious by men on board, who then attacked her. 
 
 'Robbed items' 
 
 Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal that DNA tests confirmed by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory had shown that blood stains found on the clothing of all of the accused had matched the blood of the victim. 
 
 Mr Mohan also cited records from the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where the woman died, which said death was caused by septicaemia and multiple-organ failure. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The victim's friend, who witnessed the attack, speaks to Zee News 
 
 The five accused, aged between 19 and 35, are charged with rape, abduction and murder, and could face the death penalty if convicted. They include the driver of the bus. 
 
 The prosecutor also said items robbed from the victim had been recovered from the accused. 
 
 The magistrate said: "[The suspects] will be produced in court on Monday." 
 
 A following hearing was set for 10 January. 
 
 Protesters gathered outside the court in Saket, carrying a banner demanding justice for the victim. 
 
 Police 'argued' 
 
 The friend of the woman who died has given his first interview since the incident. 
 
 The man, who has not been named, told Zee News he and the rape victim had boarded the bus after a trip to the cinema and after failing to flag down an auto-rickshaw. 
 
 He said the bus had tinted windows, and that he believed the group of men had laid a trap for them. 
 
 While education may over time promote gender equality and help change mindsets, in my view, legal literacy is the need of the hour Priya Hingorani, Supreme Court advocate Viewpoints: What next after India rape outcry? 
 
 "We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me," he said. 
 
 "She tried to dial the police control room number 100, but the accused snatched her mobile away. 
 
 "I tried to fight against the men but later I begged them again and again to leave her." 
 
 He confirmed earlier reports that the assailants had thrown them off the bus and tried to run them over. 
 
 The friend said he had tried to get help from passers-by and motorists. 
 
 "They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said. 
 
 And he also criticised the authorities, accusing them of being slow to arrive, then arguing over jurisdiction, and eventually taking them to the wrong hospital. 
 
 "My friend was bleeding profusely. But instead of taking us to a nearby hospital, they [police] took us to a hospital that was far away," he said. 
 
 Delhi Police on Saturday denied its officers were late in arriving. A statement said the first vehicle had arrived within four minutes of the distress call, left the scene with the victims within another three minutes and reached Safdarjung Hospital within another 24. 
 
 The BBC's Andrew North, in Delhi, says the case continues to put Indian life under a sharp magnifying glass, and for many people it is uncomfortable viewing. 
 
 Meanwhile, police have opened an investigation into whether Zee News broke broadcasting laws relating to disclosure of the victim's identity. 
 
 The victim's friend was not named but his face was shown. 
 
 Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP news agency that a case had been filed against the broadcaster. 
 
 The case has caused a national outcry, and there have been frequent protests calling for greater protection for women.
– The latest in the India gang-rape case: A public prosecutor said yesterday that forensic evidence links the accused to the monstrous rape of a 23-year-old woman on a Delhi bus, the Guardian reports. In a pretrial hearing, the prosecutor told a judge that the five accused men tried burning their clothes to destroy evidence—but traces of the victim's blood was found on the burnt remains. Belongings stolen from the victim were also found on the accused, the BBC reports The men, aged 19 to 35, are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow for the first time.