India’s Supreme Court has rejected a petition seeking to overturn the death sentences of four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi.
Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh had challenged the court’s 2017 ruling upholding their death penalty.
The brutal gang rape led to nationwide outrage and new anti-rape laws.
They have exhausted all their legal options but can still file a mercy petition before India’s president.
Akshay Singh, the fourth convict, had not challenged his death sentence, but this ruling will also apply to him.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy student was attacked on a bus that she had boarded with her male friend as they returned home from watching a film in December 2012. Her friend was also beaten up.
She died of her severe injuries in a hospital 13 days later.
The victim’s mother told media that the Supreme Court ruling was “justice for all”.
“I have been struggling for six years, and today I am satisfied that justice has been delivered. The latest ruling has strengthened my belief in our justice system,” she said.
Six were arrested over the attack. One suspect, Ram Singh, was found dead in jail in March 2013, having apparently taken his own life.
Another, who was aged 17 at the time, was released in 2015 after serving three years in a reform facility – the maximum term possible for a juvenile in India.
Case timeline
16 December 2012: A 23-year-old physiotherapy student is gang-raped by six men on a bus in Delhi, her male friend is beaten up and the pair are thrown out after the brutal assault
17 December: Key accused Ram Singh, the bus driver, is arrested. Over the next few days, his brother Mukesh Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, fruit seller Pawan Gupta, a helper on the bus Akshay Thakur, and the 17-year-old juvenile, who cannot be named, are arrested.
29 December: The victim dies in hospital in Singapore from injuries sustained during the assault; body flown back to Delhi
11 March 2013: Ram Singh dies in Tihar jail; police say he hanged himself, but defence lawyers and his family allege he was murdered
31 August: The juvenile is found guilty and sentenced to three years in a reform facility
13 September: The four adult defendants are convicted and given the death penalty by the trial court
13 March 2014: The Delhi high court confirms the death sentence
March – June 2014: The convicts appeal in the Supreme Court and the death sentences are put on hold until the court takes a decision.
May 2017: The Supreme Court upholds the high court’s decision to give them death sentences.
Source: BBC news
