An Indian court has sentenced three men to death for the rape of an Israeli tourist and murder of a man near a UNESCO heritage site.

BENGALURU: An Indian court has issued death sentences against three men convicted of raping an Israeli tourist and another woman, and killing a man near a UNESCO World Heritage site. The men attacked a group of five people as they were stargazing in a village in south India last year.

They were in the area of Hampi, known for its rocky hillocks and sprawling temple ruins. The three men raped the Israeli tourist and her homestay host, and pushed the three others in the group into a canal.

One of them, an Indian man from Odisha state, was found dead the following day. A district court judge handed the three convicted assailants the death sentence on Monday over the murder charge, as well as prison terms for other offences including rape.

Their crime fell under “the rarest of rare category”, the judge was quoted as saying. The sentencing must be ratified by the Karnataka state’s high court, and can still be appealed.

The case has highlighted chronic violence against women in the world’s most populous country. According to latest available official data, 29,670 rapes were reported in India in 2023.

India imposes the death penalty by hanging, although it is rarely carried out in practice. The last executions in India were in March 2020, when four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus were hanged.

 The Sun Malaysia