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Four men have been found guilty of the murder of the 23-year-old medical student they violently raped on a Delhi bus and left for dead. The victim died of her injuries two weeks later.
Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Akshay Thakur were all convicted of rape, murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery and eight other charges at Saket Court in South Delhi.
The high profile case has brought sexual violence against girls and women in India into sharp focus, prompting nationwide protests over India’s sex attack laws. The victim, who cannot be named, was on her way home from the cinema with a male friend when the pair were tricked into boarding the bus. The female was subjected to a horrific rape by six attackers, during which a metal bar was used, while her companion was forcibly subdued. The driver of the bus is amongst the four convicted men.
A fifth suspect committed suicide while on remand and the sixth attacker, a 17-year-old at the time of the incident, was sentenced to three years in jail; the maximum term a juvenile may face under Indian law.
The victim’s family and rights campaigners have called for a change in the law that would see a juvenile tried as an adult in exceptional circumstances, since it is alleged that the 17-year-old was the most violent of the attackers. Worldwide attention has already led to reforms to sexual violence laws.
The four attackers are due to be sentenced later this week and may face the death penalty.
