The gang rape in India of a young woman and her resulting death last month sparked a national outcry and calls for harsh punishment of the five people charged with the crime.

Now the case of one of those suspects, a 17-year-old, is generating a divisive new debate about whether the nation's juvenile crime laws should apply to particularly brutal offenses.

Police have charged five adults and the teenage boy — who investigators say participated in the rape and wielded the metal rod that caused the young woman's fatal internal injuries — with rape, murder, abduction and robbery.