NEW DELHI, May 17, 1985 -- The murder trial of the accused assassins of prime minister Indira Gandhi began today in a stifling, 15-by-30-foot prison courtroom with not enough chairs to go around for the barely 40 court officers and spectators who showed up.

Moments before the opening representations were made by prosecution and defense attorneys, courtroom attendants scurried into the room with a short, backless bench so that Satwant Singh, the Sikh security guard accused of emptying the magazine of his submachine gun into Gandhi's body on Oct. 31, could be seated alongside his two codefendants.