Delhi gang-rape case: 4 convicts to be sentenced; 'hang them' says girl's mother

inSha

The Delhi gang-rape case ignited massive protests in December last year and forced the introduction of tougher laws to punish sexual offences

New Delhi: The four men found guilty of the barbaric gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern on a moving bus in Delhi last year will now be sentenced. They could face the death penalty.

"They should be hanged, they showed no remorse, that will be justice for her and for everyone in this country" said the girl's mother, as she left for the trial court in south Delhi which will hear arguments on the sentencing of her daughter's killers. (Delhi gang-rape: hope the punishment is exemplary, says braveheart's mother)

Their punishment will be announced today or tomorrow, after the arguments are over.

All four men - fruit seller Pawan Gupta, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh, an unemployed man - were found guilty of 13 offences which included gang rape, unnatural sex and destruction of evidence. (Delhi gang-rape verdict: 4 convicted for rape & murder in case that shook India)

"They committed the murder of the helpless victim," said the judge in a 237-page order that dwelled at length on the sheer depravity of the crime which had shaken India to the core.
(Delhi gang-rape: They committed the murder of a helpless victim, says judge)

"The manner in which (iron) rods were used and the injury on the body of victims rules out the possibility that the accused brought these rods only to overpower the girl," the judge said, "the act of inserting the rod and pulling out her internal organ after the gang-rape cannot be seen as only to facilitate the gang-rape...it was an intentional act to kill her."

These four men were in a gang of six who were arrested for brutally gang-raping the young woman on December 16 and assaulting her male friend.

The alleged 'gang-leader' Ram Singh was found hanging in his prison cell in March. The sixth and youngest convict was 17 at the time of the assault and was sentenced last month to three years in a reform centre, the maximum punishment for a juvenile found guilty of rape and murder.

The girl died 13 days after the brutal assault, after which she and her friend had been thrown off the bus, battered and bleeding.

"We hope the sentencing will be a historic decision and will put fear in the minds of those intending to commit such a crime," her mother said after the court's order yesterday. The parents were present at the Saket court for the verdict, not far from the men who were held guilty of killing their daughter.

"If they are not sentenced to death then it's a matter of shame for the entire country," her husband said.