Four convicts had been sentenced to death in December last year
The Supreme Court today put on hold the execution of two of the four men convicted of raping and killing a young student in Delhi in December, 2012. (
Delhi Gang-rape: All Four Convicts Sentenced to Death)
The court has stayed the death penalty of Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma. The sentence of two others, Mukesh and Vinay Sharma, was put on hold in March, days after the Delhi high court rejected the appeal of all four men.
The high court had called the crime "premeditated" and "callous" and one that "left an indelible scar on the social order."
The Supreme Court's stay is part of the procedure to examine the convicts' appeals against their death sentence.
On December 16, 2012, the 23-year-old student and her male friend were attacked by six men after they got on a private bus while going home from the cinema. Her friend was thrown to the back of the bus after being battered with an iron rod, which was later used to torture her. The couple was then thrown from the bus. (
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The young woman died of her injuries 13 days later.
Four of her attackers were convicted last September after the case was fast-tracked, while a juvenile was sentenced to three years in a detention centre. A sixth man, Ram Singh, was found dead in jail in March last year.