- Victim, 23, died after being gang-raped by six men on bus in New Delhi
One will appeal verdict claiming he was only driving the bus at time of attack
Crime shook India and lead to widespread protests about sex attack laws
Comes after teen accomplice given maximum sentence possible in India
Defence claim all four innocent saying it was a show trial to 'appease public'
By
Matt Blake
The family of a 23-year-old
medical student who died after being brutally gang raped on a bus in New
Delhi demanded that her attackers be hanged today as four men were
convicted of her murder.
Mukesh
Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma were all found
guilty of rape, murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, and eight other
charges at Saket Court, in South Delhi, India.
They
were among six people accused of tricking the woman and her male
companion into boarding an off-duty bus on December 16 after they had
seen a matinee showing of 'Life of Pi' at a shopping mall.
They
then raped her using a metal bar to inflict massive internal injuries
before beating her friend. The victims were dumped naked on the roadside
and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later.
Speaking
outside court, the
father of the victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law, said:
'Now the court has held them guilty, we want them hanged.
We expect nothing else but the death sentence.'
'Hang them': As the four men listened to their
verdicts inside the courtroom, chants of 'hang them' could be heard
outside as demonstrators called for the death penalty and staged mock
hangings
Guilty! Indian policemen look out from a van carrying the four convicted men
Appeal: W.P. Singh (left, centre), defence
lawyer for one of the four men, said he planned to launch an appeal on
behalf of his client as protesters called for his hanging yards away
(right)
As the men were told the verdicts in the courtroom, chants of 'hang them' could be heard echoing outside.
The
men, convicted on all the counts against them, including rape and
murder, now face the possibility of hanging. They are expected to be
sentenced tomorrow.
One of the four, however, is to launch an appeal over his conviction claiming he was simply driving the bus when the attack took place and was unaware of what was happening inside.
The crime, which left the victim with
such extensive internal injuries that she died two weeks later, sparked
widespread protests across the country and led to reforms of India's
antiquated sexual violence laws.
Guilty: A van carries the four men to court in New Delhi. They all now face the death penalty following today's guilty verdicts
A mother's tears: The mother of one of the four
convicted men cries upon seeing the news on a court verdict on a TV
inside her house at a slum in New Delhi
Their conviction comes a week after their teenage accomplice was jailed for three years for his part in the atrocity.
The sixth accused was found dead in his jail cell in March.
Reading out today's verdict, Judge Yogesh Khanna said the men had committed 'murder of a helpless person.'
The
parents of the rape victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law,
had tears in their eyes as the verdicts were read. They sat just a few
feet from the convicted men in a tiny courtroom jammed with lawyers,
police and reporters.
Convicted: It comes after a teenager was convicted in August following a separate trial
Punishment: The juvenile faces a maximum sentence of three years under Indian law
AP Singh, a lawyer for the men, said all were innocent.
'These accused have been framed simply to please the public,' he told reporters. 'This is not a fair trial.
Outside
the courthouse, where dozens of protesters had gathered, a chant began
quickly after the verdict: 'Hang Them! Hang Them! Hang Them!'
Protesters called the case a wake-up call for India.
'Every
girl at any age experiences this - harassment or rape. We don't feel
safe,' said law school graduate Rapia Pathania. 'That's why we're here.
We want this case to be an example for every other case that has been
filed and will be filed.'
The teenager, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was given the maximum sentence possible under Indian law.
But despite having since turned 18, the attacker will not be publicly named.
The victim's family called for the teenager to be tried as an adult, accusing him of being the most violent of the attackers.
'He
should be hanged irrespective of whether he is a juvenile or not. He
should be punished for what he did to my daughter,' said the
mother of the victim, said soon after the verdict was announced.
Anger: Indian women participate in a silent procession to mourn the death of the gang rape victim
Fury: Protesters demanded swift justice in the case and wide-ranging reforms to sex crime laws
Horrific: The girl was savagely attacked when she boarded a bus with a male friend after a trip to the cinema in December
Anger: The savage assault caused outrage
throughout India. Protestors are pictured trying to break through a
police cordon during a demonstration in New Delh
A dream destroyed: A man bows his head at a
candlelit vigil for the 23-year-old student who died after being
gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi
'You may as well set the juvenile free,
if the sentence is only three years for heinous offences like rape and
murder,' she added tearfully.
The mother also said she would appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
'I
am not happy with this judgment. At least in this case, the juvenile
should have been sentenced to life,' the victim's brother told Reuters news agency.
The government, facing immense public pressure, had promised swift justice in the case.
The convicted defendant was tried as a
minor on charges including murder and rape. The time he spent in a
juvenile home since he was arrested in December will count as part of
his three-year sentence.
Terror: The 23-year-old woman died after
being gang raped by six men who also used a metal bar to cause massive
internal injuries
The sentence is likely to cause further anger in a country attempting to
turn a rising tide of violence against women and which has passed a new
law toughening sentences for adults convicted of sex crimes
The
attack set off furious protests across India about the treatment of
women in the country where police say a rape is reported every 20
minutes.
A government panel
set to suggest reforms to sexual assault laws rejected calls to lower
the age at which people can be tried as adults from 18 to 16.
On
July 17, India's top court also refused to reduce the age of a juvenile
from 18 to 16 years. However, it later agreed to hear a new petition
seeking to take the 'mental and intellectual maturity' of the defendant
into account and not just age.
Four
of the teenager's co-accused are still on trial and face the death
penalty if convicted. Closing arguments began on August 22 and verdicts
are expected within the next fortnight. A fifth accused, the alleged
ring-leader, killed himself in his jail cell in March.
'IT SENDS A BAD SIGNAL': CAMPAIGNERS CALL FOR CHANGE IN LAW AFTER TEENAGER WAS TRIED AS A JUVENILE
The defendant could only receive a maximum sentence of three years because he was 17 at the time of the attack
The teenager, who may not be named, was tried as a juvenile because he was 17 at the time of the
attack.
The maximum penalty that could be imposed by India's Juvenile Justice Board was three years.
In
January, authorities ruled he was 17, citing school records, which
shocked the victim's family and others clamouring for him to face the
death penalty.
In
response to the public outcry after the rape, the government
fast-tracked tougher laws against sex crimes, but it resisted calls to
change the juvenile law and return the adult age to 16 from 18.
India's
Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition filed by Subramanian
Swamy, an opposition politician and lawyer, that calls for the law to be
reinterpreted rather than changed.
Swamy
wants the 'emotional, intellectual and mental maturity' of juvenile
offenders to be assessed when deciding whether to try them as a
juvenile, rather than basing the decision on age alone.
'I
felt that, with the kind of rape that took place, if (the juvenile
suspect) got off lightly it would send a bad signal to society,' Swamy
said.
He plans to
launch an appeal against the verdict reached today if the Supreme Court
rules in favour of his petition later this year.
The
teenager pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges including rape, murder
and robbery. His trial was held behind closed doors to protect his
identity and media were barred from reporting on any details of the
proceedings.
During
his trial, he has been held at a juvenile detention facility for
violent young offenders in Delhi and kept away from other inmates for
his safety.
The youth left home when he was 11 and got work in a roadside eatery, his mother said in January.
In recent years he lived as a semi-vagrant, washing buses and collecting fares, according to a police report.
After
leaving home, he never returned and his mother said she thought he was
dead until police arrested him in connection with the gang-rape.
Some
33,000 crimes were committed by juveniles in India last year, the
highest number in a decade, but there has not been a large spike,
according to Home Ministry figures. Juveniles commit a tiny proportion
of total crimes in India and far less than other nations such as the
United States.