Four get death sentence for Dec 16 gang rape

Four men were sentenced to death Friday for the Dec 16, 2012, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern here.

The four men - Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur - were convicted Tuesday in the case that shook the nation and made world headlines.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna Friday said it is the "rarest of the rare case" and has "shocked the collective conscience of the nation".

The gang rape occurred after the woman and her male companion boarded a bus in Munirka in south Delhi to return home after watching a movie.

The six attackers in the bus threw both the woman and her male companion out of the vehicle -- without clothes -- on the street in the cold December night after committing the ghastly crime, police said.

The woman died of her grave intestinal injuries Dec 29 at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

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