New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS): After one of the six accused in the Dec 16 gang-rape case committed suicide Monday, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said it would have been better had he been punished by law.

Ram Singh, the main accused in the gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapist in a moving bus, committed suicide in Delhi's Tihar Jail early Monday.

"There was a demand for death sentence for him. It would have been better if law would have punished him," Krishna Tirath told reporters here.

"Maybe he did this out of frustration. The home ministry will take action. There will be an inquiry," she said.

National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma told a TV news channel that this would not have happened "if the legal process was faster". "Judgment in this case should come out soon," she demanded.

"It is surprising that the jail administration could not protect him," she added.

Jail sources said that Ram Singh hanged himself by the grills of a window, using his own pyjama.

He had been charged in 13 cases in connection with the Dec 16 incident, and had been facing day-to-day trial in a fast-track court. He was supposed to be taken to the court Monday too.