India sets execution date for four men convicted of 2012 gang-rape of student in bus

The horrific attack on the 23-year-old student known as Nirbhaya galvanised protests across India

This comes amid a revived debate over sexual violence in India after several headline-grabbing cases in recent months

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The mother of the victim of the fatal 2012 gang-rape on a New Delhi bus speaks to the media after a court scheduled the executions of the four men convicted of the crime. Photo: AP

Published: 10:18pm, 7 Jan 2020Updated: 1:16am, 8 Jan 2020

A death warrant was issued on Tuesday for the four men convicted in the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a New Delhi bus that galvanised protests across India and brought global attention to the country’s sexual violence epidemic.

A New Delhi court scheduled the hangings for January 22 at 7am, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The warrant has been anticipated since India’s Supreme Court rejected one of the men’s final review pleas last month. India’s president can still intercede, but that is not expected to happen.

The victim, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student whom Indian media dubbed “Nirbhaya”, or “Fearless”, because Indian law prohibits rape victims from being identified, was heading home with a male friend from a cinema when six men lured them onto a bus.

With no one else in sight, they beat the man with a metal bar, raped the woman and used the bar to inflict massive internal injuries to her.

Protesters hold a candlelight vigil after four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman on a bus in New Delhi were sentenced to death. Photo: Reuters

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