Verdict in India Rape Case Due Next Week

NEW DELHI—A court in New Delhi finished hearing closing arguments on Tuesday in the trial of four men accused in the rape and death of a woman on a bus in the Indian capital last year, and a verdict will be handed down on Sept. 10, lawyers involved in the case said.
The four men face charges including kidnapping, rape and murder. They have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors, who delivered closing arguments last month, said the men raped the 23-year-old student and beat her male friend after luring them on to a bus on Dec. 16. The woman died from her injuries.
The attack caused widespread outrage in India, with thousands of people protesting across the country and calling for the suspects to be hanged. It also prompted a bout of national soul searching over the treatment of women in Indian society and led to Parliament strengthening laws and penalties on sexual crimes.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in December led to widespread outrage in India with thousands of people protesting, including this protester in New Delhi on Jan. 29.

If the defendants are convicted, sentencing will likely take place two or three days after the verdict, public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said Tuesday. If guilty, the maximum punishment for the men—Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Kumar Singh and VinaySharma—is the death penalty.
A fifth accused was found dead in his prison cell in March. Authorities said he hanged himself. His family and lawyer allege that he was murdered. An investigation into his death is under way.
A juvenile court last week sentenced a teenager to three years in a reformatory, the maximum punishment allowed, after ruling he took part in the attack.
The trial of the adults began in February at a special fast-track court in south Delhi. Proceedings were largely closed to foreign newspapers, but news agencies were granted access.
“You’ve delayed this trial far enough. My judgment will come on 10th,” Agence France-Presse quoted the presiding judge, Yogesh Khanna, as saying Tuesday.

A.P. Singh, a lawyer for two of the defendants, said the trial had ended earlier than expected. “Anyway, I’m hoping it will be a fair verdict,” he said.
Write to Vibhuti Agarwal at vibhuti.agarwal@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared September 4, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Verdict in India Rape Case Due Next Week.

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