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| Four Men Convicted in Rape Case That Transfixed India | Four Men Convicted in Rape Case That Transfixed India |
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| NEW DELHI — Four men were convicted of all charges Tuesday in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman who was attacked when she boarded a bus in New Delhi last December, bringing a bitter close to a case that tore open the subject of sexual violence in this rapidly changing society. | NEW DELHI — Four men were convicted of all charges Tuesday in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman who was attacked when she boarded a bus in New Delhi last December, bringing a bitter close to a case that tore open the subject of sexual violence in this rapidly changing society. |
| The last and most urgent question – whether any of them will receive the death penalty – will be answered Wednesday, when they are sentenced at a morning hearing. The family of the victim has demanded death sentences, and much of the public seemed to share their anger, flooding the streets last year to demand swift punishment in the case. The police here were braced for aftershocks that might follow the sentencing. | |
| The crime stood out for its horror, even in this sprawling and chaotic city. | The crime stood out for its horror, even in this sprawling and chaotic city. |
| The woman was returning home from a movie with a male friend, and boarded a private bus with a group of men, mostly working-class migrants who the police said had been drinking. While the bus circled Delhi’s ring road, they attacked the pair, knocked her friend unconscious and took her to the back of the bus to rape her, including with a metal rod. About 30 minutes after boarding the bus, the two were dumped off on the roadside, naked and bleeding. | The woman was returning home from a movie with a male friend, and boarded a private bus with a group of men, mostly working-class migrants who the police said had been drinking. While the bus circled Delhi’s ring road, they attacked the pair, knocked her friend unconscious and took her to the back of the bus to rape her, including with a metal rod. About 30 minutes after boarding the bus, the two were dumped off on the roadside, naked and bleeding. |
| She died two weeks later of her injuries. | She died two weeks later of her injuries. |
| Her death seemed to open a vault here, and nine months later, reports of rape still saturate the country’s newspapers – whether because of increased attacks or increased reporting is not clear. Under pressure to respond to the surge of public anger, the government toughened laws on sexual violence. But the drumbeat of fresh reports offers little hope that this society has confronted the problem, and foreign women have become increasingly wary of traveling to India as tourists. | Her death seemed to open a vault here, and nine months later, reports of rape still saturate the country’s newspapers – whether because of increased attacks or increased reporting is not clear. Under pressure to respond to the surge of public anger, the government toughened laws on sexual violence. But the drumbeat of fresh reports offers little hope that this society has confronted the problem, and foreign women have become increasingly wary of traveling to India as tourists. |
| The prosecution benefited from detailed witness statements given by the victim before she died, and from her male companion, who showed up in a wheelchair to testify. But despite the establishment of special fast-track courts for sex crimes, it has moved slower than many hoped, unfolding under unprecedented scrutiny. | The prosecution benefited from detailed witness statements given by the victim before she died, and from her male companion, who showed up in a wheelchair to testify. But despite the establishment of special fast-track courts for sex crimes, it has moved slower than many hoped, unfolding under unprecedented scrutiny. |
| One defendant, Ram Singh, who was driving the bus during the assault, hanged himself with his bedsheet in his cell in a Delhi prison cell this year as his cellmates looked on; his family said he had been subjected to sustained abuse while in custody, and at one point had been forced to drink urine, and they believe he was murdered by the police. | One defendant, Ram Singh, who was driving the bus during the assault, hanged himself with his bedsheet in his cell in a Delhi prison cell this year as his cellmates looked on; his family said he had been subjected to sustained abuse while in custody, and at one point had been forced to drink urine, and they believe he was murdered by the police. |
| A second, who has not been named because he is a juvenile, was sentenced last month to three years in a juvenile detention center – the heaviest sentence possible in India’s juvenile justice system. | A second, who has not been named because he is a juvenile, was sentenced last month to three years in a juvenile detention center – the heaviest sentence possible in India’s juvenile justice system. |
| As testimony drew to an end, the special prosecutor in the case, Dayan Krishnan, said each of the six defendants were linked to the crime through DNA evidence. | As testimony drew to an end, the special prosecutor in the case, Dayan Krishnan, said each of the six defendants were linked to the crime through DNA evidence. |
| Bite marks on the woman’s body contained material identifying Ram Singh and Akshay Thakur, who worked as an assistant on the bus, Mr. Krishnan told the Press Trust of India. He said Vinay Sharma, who worked as a handyman at a gym, had left fingerprints on the bus, and phone calls made from the vehicle were traced to a fruit seller, Pawan Gupta. Another man, Ram Singh’s younger brother, who is known by the single name Mukesh, has admitted taking part, he said. | Bite marks on the woman’s body contained material identifying Ram Singh and Akshay Thakur, who worked as an assistant on the bus, Mr. Krishnan told the Press Trust of India. He said Vinay Sharma, who worked as a handyman at a gym, had left fingerprints on the bus, and phone calls made from the vehicle were traced to a fruit seller, Pawan Gupta. Another man, Ram Singh’s younger brother, who is known by the single name Mukesh, has admitted taking part, he said. |
| The defense case for the men has been patchy. | The defense case for the men has been patchy. |
| The lawyer for Mukesh, Manohar Lal Sharma, argued in an interview that the rape would not have occurred except for “the lust of the boy” who was accompanying the victim to the movies, and said, “This is the boy who should be hanged.” | The lawyer for Mukesh, Manohar Lal Sharma, argued in an interview that the rape would not have occurred except for “the lust of the boy” who was accompanying the victim to the movies, and said, “This is the boy who should be hanged.” |
| In another public statement, he suggested the victim was responsible, saying, “Until today, I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady.” | In another public statement, he suggested the victim was responsible, saying, “Until today, I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady.” |
| Her parents have called for the death penalty throughout the process. | Her parents have called for the death penalty throughout the process. |
| “These monsters should be hanged,” said her mother, Asha Devi, in an interview to the news channel NDTV, as the family left for court on Tuesday morning. “When I saw her in the hospital later, she burst into tears and said, ‘Mummy, they beat me up very brutally.'” Her father, Badri Nath Singh, agreed. | “These monsters should be hanged,” said her mother, Asha Devi, in an interview to the news channel NDTV, as the family left for court on Tuesday morning. “When I saw her in the hospital later, she burst into tears and said, ‘Mummy, they beat me up very brutally.'” Her father, Badri Nath Singh, agreed. |
| “If they are not hanged,” he told the reporter, “it will be a shame for everyone.” | “If they are not hanged,” he told the reporter, “it will be a shame for everyone.” |
| The victim, who hoped to become a doctor but settled for a physiology course, had become a vessel for the hopes of Mr. Singh, who left his native village to build a life for his family in Delhi. He acknowledged, in an interview last winter, that he lavished more attention to her, his firstborn, than he did on her two younger brothers, and jokingly called her “beta,” Hindi for son. | The victim, who hoped to become a doctor but settled for a physiology course, had become a vessel for the hopes of Mr. Singh, who left his native village to build a life for his family in Delhi. He acknowledged, in an interview last winter, that he lavished more attention to her, his firstborn, than he did on her two younger brothers, and jokingly called her “beta,” Hindi for son. |
| Father and daughter sometimes daydreamed that she might rise in society to eclipse their most accomplished relative, a judge, Mr. Singh said in an interview last January. Scrimping to pay her tuition, he sold the land he owned in his village, borrowed money and worked 16-hour double shifts loading baggage at the international airport in the capital. | Father and daughter sometimes daydreamed that she might rise in society to eclipse their most accomplished relative, a judge, Mr. Singh said in an interview last January. Scrimping to pay her tuition, he sold the land he owned in his village, borrowed money and worked 16-hour double shifts loading baggage at the international airport in the capital. |
| Her story was retold in lavish detail by Indian newspapers and clearly resonated with aspirational young people in this city, who turned out by the thousands to protest, taking authorities by surprise. | Her story was retold in lavish detail by Indian newspapers and clearly resonated with aspirational young people in this city, who turned out by the thousands to protest, taking authorities by surprise. |
| “It must have been building up over a long time,” said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of the police, to a local news channel this week. He said that when he asked his daughter, who is 24, about the protests, “she said, ‘Dad, you don’t realize what women have to face on the roads, or the stations, or the way people look at them.'” | “It must have been building up over a long time,” said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of the police, to a local news channel this week. He said that when he asked his daughter, who is 24, about the protests, “she said, ‘Dad, you don’t realize what women have to face on the roads, or the stations, or the way people look at them.'” |
| He said, “I realized even she was very angry with us, that nobody is doing anything.” | He said, “I realized even she was very angry with us, that nobody is doing anything.” |
Betwa Sharma contributed reporting from New Delhi. | Betwa Sharma contributed reporting from New Delhi. |