Death sentence upheld in Dec 16 gang-rape case

Delhi HC also dismissed the appeals of four convicts challenging the trial court verdict awarding them the death penalty

The Delhi High Court Thursday upheld the death sentences awarded to four convicts in the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape.

A division bench of Justice Reva Khetrapal and Justice Pratibha Rani also dismissed the appeals of four convicts challenging the trial court verdict awarding them the death penalty.

The trial court had Sep 13, 2013 awarded death sentences to Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20).

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped and brutally sexually assaulted by six men, including a juvenile, in a moving bus.

The accused then threw her and her male companion out of the vehicle, stripped of clothing, to die by the roadside on the cold December night.

The woman died of grave intestinal injuries Dec 29, 2012 at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she was airlifted for specialised treatment.

One of the six accused was found dead in a cell in Delhi's Tihar Jail. A juvenile involved in the crime was Aug 31, 2013 sent by the Juvenile Justice Board to a reform home for three years, the maximum term under the juvenile law.