India's top court upholds death sentence against Delhi gang-rapists

India's top court on Fridayupheld death sentences against four men who fatally gang-raped awoman on board a bus in 2012, a crime that sparked widespreadprotests and drew international attention to violence againstwomen.

Applause broke out in court among relatives of the victim whose identity is protected by law as judges explained thecrime met the "rarest of the rare" standard required to justifycapital punishment in India.

Today I am happy. Female victim's mother

"It's a barbaric crime and it has shaken the society'sconscience," Justice R. Banumathi said, as a three-judge SupremeCourt panel threw out an appeal on behalf of the defendants.

The five men and a juvenile lured the 23-year-old traineephysiotherapist and her male friend on to a minibus in New Delhion Dec. 16, 2012, before repeatedly raping the woman and beatingboth with a metal bar and dumping them on a road.

The woman died of internal injuries two weeks later in aSingapore hospital.

"I am very satisfied. Today I am happy," the victim's mothersaid.

Her father said: "It's not just a victory for my family,it's a victory for each and every woman in our country."

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Four of the attackers were sentenced to death in 2013 by thetrial court while the fifth hanged himself in prison during theoriginal seven-month case. The verdict was upheld by the highcourt in 2014.

The four gym instructor Vinay Sharma, bus cleaner AkshayKumar Thakur, fruit-seller Pawan Gupta, and unemployed MukeshSingh then appealed to the Supreme Court.

The sixth defendant, a minor, was sent to a reformhome for three years and has since been released.

The defendants were not in court on Friday.

Rapeepidemic

A.P. Singh, a lawyer representing three of the condemnedmen, said that justice had not been done. He vowed to file areview petition to the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The last recourse of the convicts, all of whom are now intheir 20s, would be to seek clemency from President PranabMukherjee.

The crime sparked big protests and led thousands of womenacross India to break their silence over sexual violence thatoften goes unreported.

• Gang-rapistsays victim should not have fought

It also shone a spotlight on what women's groups call a rapeepidemic in the country. In 2015, police registered more than34,000 rape complaints and 84,000 women filed sexual harassmentcases, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Authorities have stiffened penalties against sex crimes,introduced fast-track trials in rape cases and made stalking acrime.

Despite the toughening of the laws, debate continues overwhether they serve as a sufficient deterrent.

On average, 50 crimes against women are registered every dayby police in Delhi, including at least four cases of rape,according to a senior official in the federal home ministry.