Four Delhi gang rape suspects convicted

An Indian court on Tuesday found four men guilty of gang-raping a woman on a bus in Delhi last December, BBC News reported. 

The four were convicted of all charges against them, including rape and murder, the New York Times said. 

They will be sentenced at a later date, and stand to receive the death penalty.

The Dec. 16 attack on a 23-year-old woman, who died weeks afterward from her injuries, sparked protests throughout India and saw swift international condemnation.

The case has been closely watched over the seven months that followed. The victim's family, among others, have called for the death sentence.

"If they are not hanged," her father told a local reporter, "it will be a shame for everyone," said the Times.

According to the prosecution, the woman was assaulted after getting on a private bus with a male friend, who was knocked out by a group of men already on board.

Then they turned on the young female student. She was gang-raped and brutalized with a metal rod at the back of the bus. The men allegedly stripped both victims naked and tossed them out of the bus onto the road.

The woman died of her wounds several weeks later. The crime provoked mass protests and prompted debate over the treatment of women in India.

One of the lawyers defending the four accused, however, has disputed the prosecution's account.

"Until today, I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady," Manohar Lal Sharma said in a public statement cited by the Times.