Indian court upholds death sentence for 4 rape convicts

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court of India on Friday upheld the death penalty sentence for all four convicts over a 2012 gang rape and murder case that had outraged Indian society.

The Supreme Court gave its verdict on the appeal filed by the four convicts, who were awarded death sentence by the Delhi High Court and trial court.

“The case is the rarest of rare case and we are compelled to give extreme punishment to ensure justice,” said the court.

All four convicts -- Mukesh, 27, Akshay, 29, Pawan, 20 and Vinay, 21 -- had approached the top court.

Ram Singh, the fifth accused committed suicide while in custody, while the sixth minor accused was released in November, 2015 after spending three years in a correction facility.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old medical student, and her friend boarded a private bus in New Delhi on Dec. 16, 2012. The two were attacked and Nirbhaya was gang-raped by six men. She was also beaten with an iron rod and her intestines were pulled out. She later succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital 13 days after the incident.

Nirbhaya's father Badri Singh told Anadolu Agency: “I am satisfied with the verdict. Justice has been delivered. We only wanted death sentence for these people.”

The outrage in India brought issues regarding women's security to the forefront in the biggest democracy of the world.