Four men found guilty in landmark Indian gang-rape trial

Four men were found guilty on Tuesday of the rape of a woman on a bus in the Indian capital and her murder, closing a chapter on a crime that triggered protests and soul-searching about the treatment of women in India.

Arguments on sentencing are due to begin on Wednesday and all four could be hanged for the murder conviction, said VK Anand, the defence lawyer for one of the accused.

They had all pleaded not guilty.

“All four accused committed on all sections,” said Anand.

Indian law prohibits naming the woman victim, a trainee physiotherapist from a lower-middle class family who had worked in a call centre, but Indian media have dubbed her Nirbhaya, a Hindi word meaning fearless.

The verdict capped a seven-month trial, often held behind closed doors, that was punctuated dramatically by a fifth defendant hanging himself in his jail cell. Outside the court, the case cemented India’s reputation as unsafe for women, even after parliament passed new laws against sexual crimes.