XPost: alt.feminism.individualism, alt.fitness.female, free.uk.guns.politics   
   XPost: git.club.guns   
   From: democrats@destroy.america.org   
      
   NEW DELHI—An Indian judge sentenced four young men to death for   
   the gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student last year,   
   sending a stern message as the world's largest democracy   
   grapples with widespread violence against women.   
      
   Three days after finding the men guilty of murder, rape,   
   kidnapping and other charges, Judge Yogesh Khanna said they   
   should be hanged for having "shocked the collective conscience"   
   of India.   
      
   "In these times when crime against women is on the rise, courts   
   cannot turn a blind eye toward such gruesome crime," Judge   
   Khanna said. "There cannot be any tolerance."   
      
   The December attack, in which the woman was repeatedly raped and   
   sexually assaulted with a metal bar before being dumped, naked   
   and bleeding by the roadside, galvanized public opinion and   
   sparked mass demonstrations across the country.   
      
   In the months since, India has been engaged in a national   
   reappraisal of long-held attitudes toward women and their   
   rights. Laws have been strengthened. In extreme cases, rapists   
   can now face the death penalty.   
      
   "There's a willingness, an openness for greater engagement with   
   what lies at the roots of this violence," said Kavita Krishnan,   
   a leader of the All India Progressive Women's Association.   
      
   Victims appear to be more willing to come forward. Delhi police   
   registered 1,036 complaints of rape through Aug. 15 this year,   
   more than twice the number in the same period in 2012.   
   Molestation complaints were up nearly six times, to 2,267.   
      
   But activists say cases of rape are still underreported   
   especially in rural India, where traditional views are resistant   
   to change and victims of sexual assaults continue to be blamed   
   and stigmatized.   
      
   Just last month, a policewoman who was allegedly gang-raped in   
   Jharkhand, in eastern India, did not report the attack until her   
   colleagues, investigating a robbery in the same area a day   
   later, found her photo by the side of the road and asked her   
   about it.   
      
   After Friday's sentences, the lead public prosecutor, Dayan   
   Krishnan, said: "Let's hope today's judgment will instill   
   confidence in society."   
      
   When Judge Khanna imposed the sentence, the defendants, Mukesh   
   Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh, all in   
   their 20s, began to cry. Mr. Sharma collapsed and was carried   
   away by police.   
      
   A.P. Singh, who represents two of the accused men, shouted at   
   the judge, saying: "This is highly unfair. You have acted under   
   political pressure." Mr. Singh and other defense attorneys said   
   they would appeal.   
      
   Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, police officers and others   
   applauded and cheered.   
      
   An appeals court must confirm the death sentence before it can   
   be carried out. The defendants can appeal to the Indian Supreme   
   Court.   
      
   "It is a historic decision," said the victim's father. "When   
   people took to the streets and stood by us, we became hopeful.   
   Today's punishment will bring peace to our minds and to the   
   whole country."   
      
   The family of the victim, who under Indian law case cannot be   
   publicly named, had pressed for the death penalty, a call echoed   
   by politicians and many protesters who have said the courts need   
   to send a message that such crimes won't be tolerated.   
      
   Defendant Mukesh Singh, who told the court that he was driving   
   the bus but didn't realize an attack was taking place in the   
   passenger compartment, on Friday told The Wall Street Journal   
   that he wanted to tell the victim's family that he had not hurt   
   their daughter.   
      
   "Yes, I was to blame for driving the bus," he said, through his   
   lawyer. "Please forgive me if you can."   
      
   In addition to the four men sentenced Friday, a fifth defendant   
   was found dead in his jail cell in March. Authorities said he   
   committed suicide. His family alleges he was killed. An   
   investigation is ongoing.   
      
   A teenage defendant early was sentenced to three years in a   
   reformatory, the maximum penalty allowed under youthful offender   
   laws, by a juvenile court.   
      
   Past Supreme Court rulings have said the death penalty is   
   warranted for crimes committed in such "an extremely brutal,   
   grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner so as to   
   arouse intense and extreme indignation of the community."   
      
   At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Krishnan, the   
   prosecutor, said that "the sentence which is appropriate is   
   nothing short of death." He argued that "there can be nothing   
   more diabolical" than the way the victim in the case was   
   "tortured."   
      
   Vivek Sharma, a lawyer for Mr. Gupta, argued for jail time   
   instead. "The court must bear in mind that life imprisonment is   
   the rule and the death sentence is the exception," he said.   
      
   According to the judge's findings, the men raped the woman one   
   by one. When she could no longer resist, they repeatedly   
   assaulted her with a metal rod. Describing 18 wounds to the   
   woman's internal organs, the judge said the men intended not   
   only to cause hurt but specifically to cause death.   
      
   As details of the savage crime became public, angry crowds began   
   gathering in the heart of the city, waving placards emblazoned   
   with slogans like "hang the rapists" and drawings of nooses.   
      
   "Hang them in public," said Achuram, a 39-year-old cobbler in   
   New Delhi who goes by one name. Mr. Achuram, a father to two   
   daughters, said the death penalty would serve as a deterrent.   
   "India needs to send out a strong message. We need to tell the   
   world that we will not tolerate abuse against our mothers and   
   daughters."   
      
   But some lawyers said they were skeptical that using the death   
   penalty in rape cases will make women safer. Critics also said   
   that given the latitude allowed to judges, capital punishment   
   isn't always applied in a coherent way and is more often given   
   to lower-class defendants.   
      
   "I don't think this will make cities safer or reduce rapes. This   
   is all just the state trying to show it is strong. Our country   
   has a lynch mob mentality," said Seema Misra, a women's rights   
   lawyer. "I'm not for the death penalty. I don't think it has any   
   deterrent effect. It's revenge."   
      
   After a lull in executions that began in 2004, India has carried   
   out two executions since November: the hanging of Ajmal Kasab,   
   convicted of terror charges in a 2008 attack on Mumbai that   
   killed more than 160 people, and Afzal Guru, convicted of   
   plotting a 2001 attack on Parliament.   
      
      
      
   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323392204579072510   
   483653546.html   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)