Indian SC upholds death sentences for Delhi gang rape

International Desk: Four men convicted of a gang rape that shocked India and attracted worldwide attention will be executed.

India's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to sentence the men to death.

According to CNN affiliate News18, the judgment was met with applause in the courtroom.

Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were originally sentenced in September 2013, but they appealed the decision in the country's top court.

Another perpetrator was underage at the time and received a lesser sentence, while a sixth attacker died in prison.

The case led to protests across India and intense media coverage around the world, shining a light on India's pervasive problem of sexual violence against women.

On the evening of December 16, 2012, Jyoti Singh Pandey, a physiotherapy student in Delhi, was leaving a movie theater after watching "The Life of Pi" with a friend.

It was late when they left the cinema, so the pair got on a private bus to go to their suburban homes. That was when their nightmare started.

According to police, the bus driver and at least five other men were drunk and looking for a "joyride."

Police said the men took turns raping the woman, using an iron rod to violate her as the bus drove around the city for almost an hour. Her male companion was beaten as he tried to fight them off. When they had finished, the men dumped their two victims by the side of the road.

Following the ordeal, Singh's injuries were so severe some internal organs had to be removed. She died two weeks later at a hospital in Singapore.

"I want them burned alive," a dying Singh told her mother and a visiting magistrate who was recording her statement at the hospital.

Agencies


risingbd/Dhaka/May 5, 2017/Shahed/Nasim