India jails Danish tourist's rapists for life
June 10, 2016
The court found the men guilty of rape, kidnapping and robbery. It heard how the woman was robbed and raped at knifepoint in January 2014 after losing her way back to her hotel in the district of Paharganj in central Delhi after asking for directions to her hotel near Connaught Place, a shopping area in the capital.
Police arrested nine people, including three minors, in connection with the attack, with one of the accused dying during the trial. The minors are being tried in a court for juveniles, and the other perpetrators are aged between 22 and 30.
Nine attackers took the woman to a secluded spot, the court was told. One of them was later found with the victim's glasses case and 1,000 rupees ($15) in cash.
"The convicts will spend the remainder of their natural lives behind bars," special public prosecutor Atul Srivastava told reporters outside the court.
Convicts to appeal
Dinesh Sharma, the convicted men's lawyer, said they would appeal the verdict in a higher court. She had sought leniency, saying the rapists came from poor backgrounds.
A poor record
Violence against women in India has caused increasing alarm since the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian physiotherapy student in New Delhi in 2012.
jbh/sms (AP, dpa)