Dec 16 gang-rape: Delhi HC verdict Thursday

The Delhi High Court will pronounce its verdict later Thursday on confirming the death sentence and appeals of four convicts in the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape.

A division bench of Justice Reva Khetrapal and Justice Pratibha Rani will pronounce the verdict in the afternoon.

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.

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

The court referred the case to the high court for confirmation of the sentence.

The chargesheet was filed Jan 3 last year.