In his conviction order, the judge remarked that besides causing bodily harm, inserting an iron rod and pulling out an internal vital organ, made the act of accused intentional with sole intention of causing death.
The sentence for the accused in the Dec 16 gang-rape case has been deferred until Friday. The prosecution today sought death penalty for the four men convicted in the Dec 16 gang-rape of a young trainee physiotherapist. In their arguments in the Saket court, the prosecution pressed for death penalty for Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh.
On Tuesday, four of the six men arrested for the brutal attack were found guilty of rape and murder by a fast-track court, one of the changes her case has driven in India. They will be sentenced today; they could face the death penalty. The fifth accused hanged himself in jail in March, and the sixth accused, seventeen at the time of crime, was last month sentenced to three years in reform centre.
Declaring the four accused guilty of rape and murder of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student in December 2012, the judge called it a planned act with intention of causing death. He said they had murdered a “helpless victim”.
“I convict all of the accused. They have been found guilty of gang rape, unnatural offences, destruction of evidence and for committing the murder of the helpless victim,” said the judge to a crowded courtroom.
In his conviction order, the judge remarked on the atrocity of the crime, that outraged the nation.
“The manner in which (iron) rods were used and the injury on the body of victims rules out the possibility that these accused brought these rods only to overpower the girl,” he said, “the act of inserting the rod and pulling out her internal organ after the gang-rape cannot be seen as only to facilitate the gang-rape…rather it make the act of pulling out the internal organ of the victim to kill her an intentional act.”
“Besides causing external bodily harm, they inserted the rod repeatedly and pulled out an internal vital organ by hand – all these circumstances made the act of the accused an intentional one done with sole intention of causing death.”
The girl was hurt so badly that 95% of her intestines had to be removed in a series of operations. Thirteen days later when she succumbed to her injuries, in Singapore, the doctors said that she had suffered from internal,brain injuries and abdominal infections. That she and her friend were thrown onto the road naked, has been described by the judge, as an act committed with the intention of killing them.
“18 internal injuries to several organs make these an act done with the certainty of causing death…there were no mitigating circumstances for committing this inhuman and brutal attack on the victim,” said the judge.
All the accused will be sentenced tomorrow.
