Indian Court Hands Out Death Sentences

A court in the financial hub of India sentenced three men, who had been found guilty of gang rapes, to death.

The sentences of death were the first handed down following the government’s increased penalties for sex crimes after the gang rape that killed a young female bus passenger in New Delhi back in December of 2012.

The three men, who were given the death sentences on Friday in Mumbai in western India, had been convicted of the gang rape of a photojournalist in a sawmill compound that had been abandoned. The three were also found guilty of raping another female in the same location in an attack that was unrelated.

In addition, on Friday another court in the southern region of India overturned 24 men’s acquittals that had been involved in a case of a teenager who had been raped for a number of weeks 18 years ago in southern India.

The Kerala High Court handed down a sentence of life to one man and the other 23 were given prison terms of varying years, that ranged from 7 to 11 years.

The girl who had been raped over 18 years ago was raped at least once by more than 40 men in different places over a period of 40 days in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Officials in the court said the woman’s rapists included lawyers, professor, government officials and businessmen.

While the gang rape for multiple days took place in 1996, the men were given acquittals back in 2005. However, the top court in India ordered that a retrial be held last year.

The justice system in India moves at a snail’s pace, but the gang rape in December of 2012 unleashed public outcry and anger across the country over how women are treated and the long epidemic that most often went unspoken of sexual violence.

A strict law against rape and trials that take place faster were amongst the changes that took place in the India legal system.

The woman killed in December of 2012 had been picked up by a bus along with her companion when five men on the bus, who had been drinking while driving around New Delhi, beat her companion and raped and beat her before throwing both from the bus.

Bio
Latest Posts

Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.