'Convicts don't deserve death for Dec 16 gang rape'

Counsel for two convicts in Dec 16 gang rape case, who have been awarded death sentence, Monday began arguments for the convicts, and said the duo don't deserve deterrent punishment and "death penalty will not stop crime in society".

Appearing before a division bench of Justice Reva Khetrapal and Justice Pratibha Rani, advocate A.P. Singh, representing Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma, said: "Death penalty will kill the criminals but that will not stop the crime in the society."

The advocate further said the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights.

He quoted Mahatma Gandhi and said: "I cannot in all conscience agree to any one being sent to the gallows. God alone can take a life because he alone gives it."

Before the arguments, Vinay came to court with a fractured hand and alleged that jail officials had beaten him up.

The court is hearing day-to-day trial in the Dec 16 gang rape death reference case.

The trial court Sep 13 awarded death sentence to Mukesh, 26, Akshay Thakur, 28, Pawan Gupta, 19, and Vinay Sharma, 20, convicted in the case, and referred the case to the high court for confirmation of their sentence.

The 23-year-old student of physiotherapy was brutally gang raped in a moving bus by the six people, including a juvenile. 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 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. The juvenile involved in the crime was Aug 31 sent by the Juvenile Justice Board to a reform home for three years, the maximum term under the juvenile law.