Citing the same law, Delhi police started legal proceedings against the TV network Zee News after it ran an interview with a friend of the victim who was with her during the attack.

He accused the police of responding slowly and failing to cover the victim and himself after they were thrown from the bus without clothes and bleeding.

"The police are not taking any chances and want to be in a controlling situation, scaring everybody off by filing (legal complaints)," said senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde, who predicted such complaints were unlikely to lead to prosecution.

Public pressure

Despite huge public pressure to move quickly, it might take several weeks to formally begin the trial against the five men, Mohan said. He said the case could be concluded within four to five months.

A juvenile also accused of the assault will be tried separately. Mohan said police had recovered items stolen from the victim and her friend during the attack.

The protests and fierce public debate that followed the Dec 16 rape have revealed fissures between conservatives who blame a wave of sex crimes on a loss of traditional values and a growing middle class used to women playing a larger role in public life.

The head of a Hindu nationalist organization linked to the main opposition force, the Bharatiya Janata Party, stoked debate on Friday by saying sex crimes and gang rapes mainly happen in urban India - a position not supported by facts.

"You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang rape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts," said Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Reuters