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Indian Court Backs Death Penalty for New Delhi Gang Rapists

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The Delhi High Court on Thursday afternoon confirmed death sentences for four men convicted of the heinous gang rape and murder of a medical student in the Indian capital.

The incident sparked mass protests across the South Asian nation. A fast track court initially sentenced the four men to death in September last year.

A fifth accomplice apparently committed suicide in his prison cell, while a sixth — a juvenile at the time of the attack — is serving a three-year sentence in a correction home.

The four men on death row may still appeal to the Supreme Court, and failing that for Presidential clemency.

The Dec. 16 gang rape marked a watershed for the women’s movement in India and led to a new anti-rape law, which now makes even stalking and voyeurism punishable crimes.

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