Delhi gang-rape trial: Accused seek mercy, sentencing on Friday

After quite a lengthy hearing, a Delhi court reserved its order on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to the four convicted in the December 16 gang-rape and murder case to September 13.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: After quite a lengthy hearing, a Delhi court on Wednesday reserved its order on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to the four convicted in the December 16 gang-rape and murder case to September 13 (Friday). On September 13, the quantum of sentence in the nine-month-old case will be pronounced at 2:30 pm. The four already convicted in the case are: Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh. The final arguments in the brutal gang-rape case concluded today, with prosecutors demanding death sentence for the four men, who "showed no mercy to the helpless victim". The defence counsel, however, vehemently opposed the death penalty, saying "the factors outside the court room have affected the trial in the case". Defence counsel appearing for Pawan Gupta pleaded for mercy citing his young age. Gupta, a fruit vendor, is 19 years old. He also said the crime was committed on the spur of the moment and was not premeditated. Also Read: Delhi gang-rape trial: As it happened The court had on Tuesday called the crime "premeditated" and "brutal". The case shook the nation, and raised a howl of protests. On Tuesday, it convicted the four men for gang-raping the 23-year-old woman, inflicting grave injuries on her, and leaving her to die by a roadside on a cold December 16, 2012, night in an abhorring case that jolted the nation and made global headlines. The gang-rape occurred after the woman and her male companion boarded the bus in Munirka in south Delhi to return home after watching a movie. The six attackers in the bus threw both the woman and her male companion out of the vehicle -- without clothes -- on the street in the cold December night after committing the crime, police said. The woman died of her injuries on December 29 at Singapore`s Mount Elizabeth Hospital. One of the six accused was found dead in a cell in Delhi`s Tihar Jail while a juvenile involved in the crime was on August 31 sent by the Juvenile Justice Board to a reform home for three years. The incident sparked nationwide protests and nudged the central government into enacting a stringent anti-rape law. (With IANS inputs)