10 Sep 2013

India: four convicted of Delhi gang rape

An Indian court finds four men guilty of the gang-rape of a student in December last year – an incident that sparked nationwide protests over the treatment of women.

India: Four men convicted of Delhi gang rape (picture: Reuters)

The four men – fruit seller Pawan Gupta, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma and unemployed Mukesh Singh – will be sentenced on Wednesday.

They all face a potential maximum sentence of death by hanging.

The court heard the men lured the woman and her male friend onto a bus, where they repeatedly raped her. Both the man and the woman were then savagely beaten before being dumped at the side of the road.

Two weeks after the attack the victim, a 23-year-old medical student died of her injuries in hospital.

In total six men were arrested for the brutal rape, which took place in New Delhi last year.

One of the gang, who was 17 at the time of the attack, has already been found guilty. He was tried as a minor and given the maximum sentence as such: three years in a reform home.

Another member of the gang was found dead in his jail cell in March.

The rape sparked protests across India (picture: Reuters)