Justice has finally been delivered as an Indian court has sentenced four men to death
for the gang rape and murder of a student in the
capital Delhi, a case which led to violent protests
across India and new laws against rape.
Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan
Gupta were found guilty on all counts earlier this week.
Judge Yogesh Khanna said the case fell in the "rarest of rare
category", rejecting pleas for a lighter sentence.
The woman, 23, was attacked on a bus in December and
died two weeks later.
'Justice Delivered'
On Friday, Judge Khanna said the attack "shocked the
collective conscience" of India, and that "courts cannot turn
a blind eye" to such crimes.
"This case definitely falls in the rarest of rare categories and
warrants the exemplary punishment of death," he added.
One of the convicted men, Vinay Sharma, broke down in
tears as the sentence was announced.
The father of the victim, who cannot be named for legal
reasons, said the family was satisfied with the verdict.
"We are very happy. Justice has been delivered," he said in
the courtroom, according to the Associated Press news
agency.
Earlier, protesters outside the court had demanded that the
four men should be hanged.
As they were escorted to the courtroom, the four men
shouted to the crowd: "Brothers, save us!"
They all deny the charges and can still appeal the verdict to
the Supreme Court and also ask the president for clemency -
a process that could take years.
The defence lawyers argued during the trial that their clients
had been tortured and some of their confessions - later
retracted - had been coerced.
There was unprecedented police security in Delhi on Friday.
The road to the court was barricaded by police, and inside
riot police took up positions as the lawyers were escorted in,
the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in the Indian capital reports.
In August, a teenager who was found guilty of taking part in
the rape was sentenced to three years in a reform facility, the
maximum term possible because the crime was committed
when he was 17. He also denied all the charges.
Another suspect, Ram Singh, was found dead in his cell in
March. Prison officials said they believed he hanged himself
but his family allege he was murdered.
A woman is raped in India every 20 minutes, and the
December attack sparked a national debate on the treatment
of women.
Tough new laws were introduced in March which allowed the
death penalty - carried out very rarely in India - to be handed
down in the most serious cases of rape.
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