Rapists’ death penalty stays

NEW DELHI: India’s top court has upheld death sentences against four men who fatally gang- raped a woman on a bus in 2012, a crime that sparked widespread protests and drew international attention to violence against women.

Yesterday, applause broke out in court among relatives of the victim – whose identity is protected by law – as judges explained the crime met the “rarest of the rare” standard required to justify capital punishment in India.

“It’s a barbaric crime and it has shaken the society’s conscience,” Justice R Banumathi said, as a three-judge Supreme Court panel threw out an appeal by the defendants.

The five men and a juvenile lured the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist and her male friend on to a bus in New Delhi on December 16 before repeatedly raping the woman and beating both with a metal bar and dumping them on a road.

The woman died of internal injuries nearly two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

“I am very satisfied. Today I am happy,” the victim’s mother said outside the courthouse.

Her father said: “It’s not just a victory for my family, it’s a victory for each and every woman in our country.”

Four of the attackers were sentenced to death in 2013 while the fifth hanged himself in prison during the trial. That verdict was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2014.

The four – gym instructor Vinay Sharma, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Thakur, fruitseller Pawan Gupta and unemployed Mukesh Singh – then appealed to the Supreme Court. They were not in court.

The crime sparked largescale protests and led thou- sands of women across India to break their silence over sexual violence that often goes unreported.

It also shone a spotlight on what women’s groups call a rape epidemic in the country. In 2015, police registered more than 34 000 rape complaints and 84 000 women filed sexual harassment cases, the National Crime Records Bureau claims.

Authorities have increased penalties against sex crimes, introduced fast-track trials in rape cases and made stalking a crime. – Reuter

PICTURE: EPA The Mother of the murdered 2012 gang rape victim leaves court after the judgment in New Delhi yesterday.