Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty in India Rape Case

Altaf Qadri/Associated Press A police van carrying the four convicts in the Delhi gang rape case at the Saket court complex in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Prosecutors on Wednesday asked for a “death sentence” for four men who participated in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old student last December, a goal long sought by the victim’s family and many Indians who were horrified by the case, Ellen Barry wrote in The New York Times.

“There can be nothing more diabolic than a helpless girl put through torture,” said Dayan Krishnan, a prosecutor, as arguments began in the trial’s sentencing phase in a Delhi court, Ms. Barry wrote. He called the attack “a case of extreme depravity,” and made the case that society would be outraged by anything less than the death sentence.

“The common man will lose faith in the judiciary if the harshest punishment is not given,” he said.

All four men were convicted of all the charges against them on Tuesday, but to most, the verdict seemed far less important than the sentence, Ms. Barry wrote. Defense lawyers on Wednesday said the sentence should take into account that some of the defendants were present for the most savage parts of the attack, but did not take part, she wrote. READ MORE