An Indian teenager accused of taking part in the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi will be tried as a juvenile, and so face a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, a special panel has ruled.

The ruling shocked the victim`s father as he watched the television news. "A sudden current ran through my body in disbelief. I can`t believe this," he told Reuters. "How can they declare him a minor? Do they not see what they did?"

The teenager has not yet been formally charged because police were hoping he would be declared an adult so they could include him in the main trial of his five co-accused.

He has no lawyer, and his account of what happened on 16 December is unknown.

Lawyers for the five accused men said they would plead not guilty. One of them had accused police of torturing him, his lawyer said.

The panel`s decision on the youth is likely to infuriate many people, among them protesters, some police and political leaders, who have called for the age at which people can be tried as adults to be lowered to 16 from 18.

A government committee examining changes to sexual crime laws last week ruled out such a move.

Police allege that the 17-year-old and five men gang raped and severely beat the student on a moving bus in the capital before dumping her and a male friend in the road. The woman was so badly injured that she died of massive organ failure in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.

The case has sparked national debate about rampant crime against women, with the president, Pranab Mukherjee, making an unusual call in a televised state-of-the nation address on Friday for the country to "reset its moral compass".

A juvenile board, comprising a magistrate and two child welfare activists, said it accepted school records showing the juvenile, who may not be identified, as having been born on 4 June 1995. It said a bone density test to determine his age would not be necessary.

Suspecting that he is older than 17, police said they could appeal against the board`s ruling, although there was no immediate plan to do so.

The victim`s younger brother said: "This is wrong. We need the bone test to determine the accused`s real age. Certificates can be forged." The teenager, who attended the hearing, will now stand trial before the juvenile board. If convicted, he will be sent to a juvenile detention centre.

Lawyers for his five fellow accused presented arguments for the first time at a separate pre-trial hearing that will determine what charges the five men will face when the case eventually goes to trial.

Outside the wood-panelled courtroom, dozens of policemen armed with lathi bamboo canes jostled with reporters waiting to get a glimpse of the five accused. The men, wearing grey woollen caps and scarves to hide their faces, were led by the hand as police guided them into the room.

In India, all rape cases are held in closed court to protect the identity of the victim. This rule is being enforced in the Delhi gang-rape case even though the victim`s family has already said relatives are not opposed to her being identified.

The Gardian