The four men who gang-raped and murdered a 23-year old medical student on a moving bus in Delhi have been given the death sentence nine months after the horrific crime shocked the world.A fast-track court in Delhi on Friday sentenced Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh to death by hanging, NDTV reports.
The judge noted the incident was the ‘rarest of rare crimes’ and deserved the death sentence.
They were earlier found guilty of “cold-blooded murder” on Wednesday. Of the six men who were arrested, the alleged ring leader was found dead hanging in his prison cell in March.
Another, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was convicted by a juvenile court last month and sentenced to three years in a reform centre.
The student’s parents along with scores of protesters who took to the streets following the rape and murder have repeatedly demanded the death sentence for those who killed their daughter.
The young woman and her male friend were lured onto a bus on Dec 16 who were returning mall after watching a film.
The men hit the male friend with iron rods before assaulting her as the bus drove through South Delhi, passing through three police check points. 45 minutes later, the couple was thrown naked and
semi-conscious on the road.
The young woman’s injuries were so severe that she died in hospital in Singapore two weeks after the attack.
Before the rape victim succumbed to her injuries, she gave a detailed statement to the police, which helped convict her attackers.
She is said to have told her family that she wanted to see the men burn. For days, thousands of demonstrators marched in different cities, forcing the government to introduce tougher laws to punish sexual offences; special courts to try rape cases quickly were also sanctioned.
-bdnews24.com
