Five men convicted of gang-raping a
Danish tourist in the Indian capital in 2014
were Friday sentenced to life in jail, a
prosecutor said, the maximum term
possible.
They were convicted on Monday of
assaulting the 52-year-old woman at
knifepoint as she returned to her Delhi
hotel, a crime that raised fresh fears about
the safety of women in the city.
“All the convicts have been sentenced to
life imprisonment. They will remain in
prison for the remainder of their life,”
public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told
reporters outside the Delhi court after the
judgement.
“We had sufficient evidence to prove the
charges and the court was satisfied with
our arguments to hand down life
sentences.”
Shrivastava said the men were also given
jail terms for more minor offences
including robbery, which will run
concurrently with the main sentence.
Lawyer Dinesh Sharma, who defended all
five, said he would appeal their
convictions.
Three others charged over the attack are
being tried separately in the juvenile
justice system. A ninth accused, an adult,
died before the end of the trial.
India toughened its laws on sexual violence
and overhauled policing procedures in the
wake of the gang-rape of a Delhi student
on a moving bus in December 2012.
The victim later died in hospital and the
incident sparked mass street protests as
well as global headlines about the
treatment of women in India.
The minimum punishment for gang rape is
now 20 years in jail.
The victim in this case had approached a
group of men for directions as she
returned to an area popular with
backpackers in January 2014.
She left India soon after the incident and
returned in 2015 to record her testimony
before the court and to identify the
accused.
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