Delhi gang-rape: exceptional depravity, says judge in order

New Delhi: All four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old  student on a moving bus in Delhi were sentenced to death on Friday, a decision the judge said sent a message to society that there can be no tolerance for such a savage crime.

"This has shocked the collective conscience of society," Judge Yogesh Khanna said, condemning the men to death by hanging.

Here are some excerpts from the order delivered today:

• "Offence in the present case has been committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and this dastardly manner so as to arouse intense and extreme indignation of society."
• "Demonstration of exceptional depravity and extreme brutality"
• "Extreme misery inflicted upon the prosecutrix before her death"
• "Grave impact of the crime on social order"
• "The convicts in the most barbaric manner, pulled out her internal organs with their bare hands as well as by the rods and caused her irreparable injuries, thus exhibiting extreme mental perversion"
• "These are the times when gruesome crimes against women have become rampant and courts cannot turn a blind eye to the need to send a strong deterrent message to the perpetrators of such crimes. "
• "The subjecting of the prosecutrix to inhuman acts of torture before her death had not only shocked the collective conscience but calls for the withdrawal of the protective arm of the community around the convicts."