INDIA: All four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in Delhi are sentenced to death, nine months after a crime whose savagery triggered furious protests across India and rare national debate about violence against women

Record ID: 1374343

  • Title: INDIA: All four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in Delhi are sentenced to death, nine months after a crime whose savagery triggered furious protests across India and rare national debate about violence against women
  • Date: 13th September 2013
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (SEPTEMBER 13, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC) EXTERIOR OF THE COURT WHERE THE FOUR MEN CONVICTED OF RAPE AND MURDER OF A TRAINEE PHYSIOTHERAPIST WERE SENTENCED BOARD READING 'DISTRICT COURT COMPLEX SAKET' DEFENCE LAWYER FOR TWO OF THE FOUR CONVICTED MEN, A. P. SINGH, COMING OUT OF THE COURT TO ADDRESS MEDIAPERSONS (SOUNDBITE) (mixture of English/Hindi) DEFENCE LAWYER FOR TWO OF THE FOUR CONVICTED MEN, A. P. SINGH, SAYING "Today the verdict on the sentence of the Delhi gang rape case of December 16 has come from the court and all four accused, Akshay (Thakur), Vinay (Sharma), Pawan (Gupta) and Mukesh (Singh) have been sentenced to "hanged till death"
  • Embargoed: 28th September 2013 21:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA3SRT6VU7B23Y6P0UYLX6WTSC6
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: All four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in Delhi were sentenced to death on Friday (September 13), nine months after a crime whose savagery triggered furious protests across India and rare national debate about violence against women.
    The four men were found guilty this week of luring the trainee physiotherapist onto a bus on December 16, raping and torturing her with a metal bar and then throwing her naked and bleeding onto the road. She died two weeks later.

    "Today the verdict on the sentence of the Delhi gang rape case of December 16 has come from the court and all four accused, Akshay (Thakur), Vinay (Sharma), Pawan (Gupta) and Mukesh (Singh) have been sentenced to "hanged till death", defence lawyer for two of the convicted men, A. P. Singh said.
    One of the four men sentenced to death by hanging, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, was dragged out of the court crying.
    The victim became a symbol of the dangers women face in a country where a rape is reported on average every 21 minutes and acid attacks and cases of molestation are common.

    "This has shocked the collective conscience of society," Judge Yogesh Khanna told the court, referring to the attack.
    The four men were sentenced to death despite their lawyers' pleas to ignore popular and political pressure for a penalty handed down in only the "rarest of rare" cases.
    The defence lawyer acting for two of the convicted men said that he was willing to wait before he files an appeal and if the sentence proves to be a deterrant and no rape cases are reported in New Delhi or anywhere else in the country within the next two months, he may decide not to appeal.

    "I will go before the honourable High Court after some time and also I am ready to not go to the honourable High Court. I am ready to hang till death, but my condition is that if any case of rape will not be registered in Delhi and all over India, then I will not go to the honourable High Court," defence lawyer A.P. Singh said.
    The sentencing capped a seven-month trial, often held behind closed doors, that was punctuated dramatically by a fifth defendant hanging himself in his jail cell. A sixth, who was under 18 at the time of the attack, was earlier sentenced to three years detention, the maximum allowed under juvenile law.
    The Delhi case led to the introduction of tougher rape laws in March, and for the first time open conversation about gender crime in television debates, social media and even Bollywood.
    Still, sex crimes remain commonplace in India, and social commentators say patriarchal attitudes towards women have not been diluted by more than a decade of rapid economic growth.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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