Supreme Court upholds death sentence for Nirbhaya rapists

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence on all four convicts in the brutal Nirbhaya gang-rape here of December 2012 that led to her death and caused national outrage.

A three-member bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Banumathi said the aggravating circumstances against Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur far outweighed the mitigating circumstances cited in their favour.The case definitely meets the rarest of rare benchmark, the bench said. "If ever a case called for hanging, this was it."

The four were convicted on charges of raping and assaulting a 23-year-old paramedical student inside a bus that led to her death and triggered nationwide protests. A fifth accused committed suicide in prison while a sixth, a juvenile, has been released after serving his probation period in a remand home.

Taking note of the serious injuries and the severe nature of the offence committed by the convicts, the judges said they were upholding the death sentence.The Delhi High Court earlier upheld the conviction and death sentence of the four.

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