Four accused held for Delhi gang rape

Mumbai, Sep 10 – Four men have been found guilty of the fatal gang rape of a student in the Indian capital Delhi last December. The 23-year-old woman was brutally assaulted on a bus and died two weeks later.

 

Her death led to days of huge protests across India in a wave of unprecedented anger.

 

The case forced the introduction of tough new laws to punish sexual offences. The four men are expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.

 

Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta denied charges including rape and murder, and lawyers for three of the men said they would appeal against the convictions.

 

Dozens of reporters as well as protesters calling for harsh sentencing gathered outside the court to await the verdict.

 

Police said the assailants beat both of them and then raped the woman. She died in a Singapore hospital on 29 December – 10 days after the attack – from massive internal injuries.

 

Before she died she was able to testify against her attackers from her hospital bed.

 

One of the suspect, Ram Singh, was found dead in his cell in March. Prison officials said they believed he hanged himself but his family allege he was murdered.

 

Source: BBC