Five men accused of the abduction, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi are in court for a preliminary hearing in a case that has shocked India.
Security outside the building is tight. The case is expected to be transferred to a new fast-track court for trial.
The hearing comes as four Indian policemen have been suspended over the handling of another suspected rape and murder case near Delhi.
The woman’s body was found on Saturday.
The father of the alleged 21-year-old victim, a factory employee in the Delhi suburb of Noida, has told the BBC she was gang-raped.
He said police initially failed to react when he reported her disappearance, suggesting instead that she had gone off with someone.
The case has triggered protests in Noida.
Two men have been arrested and a third suspect is reported to have fled.
Outcry
The BBC’s Andrew North, outside the magistrates’ court in the Saket district of Delhi, says there are chaotic scenes in the courtroom where the gang rape case is being heard.
The room is filled with arguing lawyers, police and watching journalists, but there is no sign of the five accused, who are believed to be still in the building, our correspondent says.
The suspects were kept away from cameras as they arrived in a police van.
A sixth suspect, who is 17, will be tried separately in a youth court.
Lawyers have said they will refuse to defend the accused, because of the outcry the crime has provoked.
If convicted, the suspects could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have said they have extensive forensic evidence.
The five accused have been named as Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur.
Two of the suspects have offered to give evidence, possibly in return for a lighter sentence, Reuters news agency reports.
The victim and a male friend were attacked on a bus in south Delhi on 16 December. She died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore.
Campaigners are calling for tougher rape laws and reforms to the police, who – critics say – often fail to file charges against accused attackers.
The victim’s father has denied weekend reports in a British newspaper that he wanted his daughter’s name published.
He told BBC Hindi last week that he would have no problem with her name being used on a new law against rape.
