Delhi Gangrape Case: All 4 Convicts Sentenced To Death

New Delhi: Four convicts in the December 16 gangrape-cum-murder case were awarded death penalty by a Delhi court which said the gravity of the offence cannot be tolerated.

"Death to all," Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said while delivering the verdict in the case that had evoked nationwide outrage and led the government to bring in a stringent anti-rape law.

"Besides discussing others offences, I straightaway come to section 302 (murder) of IPC. This falls under inhuman nature of the convicts and the gravity of offence they committed cannot be tolerated. Death sentence is given to all the four convicts," he said.

The offence committed by Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) falls under the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment, the judge said.

The four were convicted by the court on September 10 for the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student.

"Court cannot turn a blind eye to such a gruesome act," the judge said, while handing down the maximum punishment.

He said, "When crime against women is rising on day-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut."

"There should be exemplary punishment in view of the unparallelled brutality with which the victim was gangraped and murdered, as the case falls under the rarest of rare category. All be given death," the court said while reading out a portion of the order.