New Delhi: A fast-track court is likely to pronounce its verdict today in the Delhi gang-rape case, in which four adult accused were tried for the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on December 16 last year.
If the four accused – Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh – are found guilty of rape and murder, they may be given the death sentence. The four have denied all charges.
Ram Singh, the prime accused and driver of the bus on which the assault happened, was found dead in his cell in Tihar jail on March 11, almost a month after the trial started. The charges against him were dropped after his death.
The verdict comes ten days after a minor accused was found guilty by the Juvenile Justice Board and sentenced to three years at a detention centre, the maximum sentence under the law.
The verdict in the incident, which had evoked nationwide outrage and consequent amendment to the anti-rape laws, follows a trial which concluded after over a hundred hearings.
The four are also accused of robbery and the trial in this case is going on in another Delhi court.