Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
INDIA’S TOP COURT has suspended the death sentences of two men convicted of the deadly gang-rape of a student in New Delhi, an attack that triggered international outrage.
The Supreme Court temporarily stayed the sentences passed on gym instructor Vinay Sharma and bus cleaner Akshay Singh for the 2012 attack while their appeals were examined, a lawyer said.
“The sentence was stayed by the court after we filed the special leave petition,” A.P. Singh, who represents the two men, told AFP.
“We want a full bench to hear this appeal. The claims against my clients are totally false, they have been wrongly accused,” he said.
They were not even in Delhi when this crime was supposed to have happened.
Rape accused
Four men were convicted and sentenced to death last year for raping the 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the capital in December 2012, a crime that unleashed weeks of angry protests over India’s treatment of women.
The High Court this year upheld the death penalty on the four including Sharma and Singh, calling the crime “gruesome” and saying the case fell into the “rarest of rare category” which warranted execution.
The other two convicts, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta, have already filed an appeal against their sentences.
The physiotherapy student was attacked with an iron rod after she was tricked into boarding a private bus to go home from the cinema with a male friend.
Her male companion was badly beaten and could not come to her aid as she was assaulted on the moving bus by six attackers.
The pair were later dumped naked and bleeding on the roadside.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai on Monday issued the order for the latest two as part of a procedure to examine the appeal.
A juvenile was also convicted over the gang-rape and sentenced to detention, while another suspect was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Should be at least behind bars for the remainder of their days if they’re serious about protecting women.
Well it says they weren’t even in Dehli when it happened. I’d rather the right people were behind bars. If there’s
someone out there who was involved and gets away with it…I’d hate to think those sickos are walking free
Well, if they’ve got the wrong man, then India is more messed up than we previously thought. Imagine sentencing someone to death, when there are doubts about him even being in the city at the time of the crime.
The life of an innocent young woman has already been lost. That of her companion has no doubt been destroyed for the rest of his days. Those who are found guilty beyond doubt should never see the light of day again. But if this man is telling the truth, I hope that he finds justice too. Execution for a crime he didn’t commit is truly chilling.
Dont necessarily believe everything a defense lawyer says, especially in India where there is so much corruption
Same could be said about the police in India, this wouldn’t be the first time a police force under pressure and after facing criticism about their competence and more so their willingness to protect people after a brutal crime charged someone who will be easy to convict rather then who they actually believed carried out the crime.
In fact its easier to do that when the fall man will be killed because most states that still use execution rarely if ever reopen a case that someone has already been put to death for because of the political ramifications of a proven case of the state killing an innocent man.
The juvenile of the bunch (17 and a half and the most brutal of the six) is out in end of 2015…. he got three years, inclusive of the time up to the trial.
This was an absolutely horrendous attack and as yet there is little sign of justice being done. It’s disgraceful.
Completely Fukced up.
In a country whose president states”Ah well, boys will be boys” when asked what his thoughts were on the many claims of rape in his country, I was really surprised they got a death sentence anyway. So won’t be TOOOO surprised if the sentence is overturned!
And that’s why I’ll never go to India!! Goodbye tourist industry for India!
Pure animals… Sick bast*rds
have your say