India court upholds 3 death sentences in 2012 gang rape

NEW DELHI — India’s highest court on Monday rejected the requests of three men to change their death sentences over the infamous gang-rape and murder of a woman in New Delhi in 2012 that sparked national protests and soulsearching.

The Supreme Court said there were no grounds for changing the decision. The men were among four sentenced to death for an attack that galvanized India, where widespread violence against women had long been quietly accepted.

The court last year upheld the Delhi High Court’s death penalty order for the four convicts. Three then appealed to the Supreme Court to have the death sentences converted to life imprisonment.

The fourth did not appeal, but his lawyer said they would soon file one, according to the Press Trust of India.

The court said on Monday that the convicts failed to point out “error apparent on the face of record” in the verdict, according to the news agency.

The convicts still have two different processes available for seeking a review of their verdict. They can file one last petition with the Supreme Court, and if it’s again rejected, they can seek presidential mercy, said A.P. Singh, the defense attorney.

“This decision has only been made due to media pressure, public pressure, and public sentiments at the time. This is not justice for all,” Singh said. “This is an attempt to murder by the State.”

In the December 2012 attack, Jyoti Singh, a physiotherapy student, was raped and left for dead by a gang of five men and a teenager on a bus in New Delhi.

The 23-year-old woman, on course to be the first professional in the family, was coming home from the with a male friend.

The six gang raped and tortured her with an iron bar as the bus drove loops through the Indian capital.

The brutality of the attack, and her determination to survive long enough to identify her attackers to police, triggered angry demonstrations by thousands of people in Delhi and nationwide. cinema