An Indian court ordered the four culprits to the gallows for a brutal attack on a moving bus that left the young woman with such severe internal injuries that she died two weeks later.
The death sentence, handed down Friday, must be confirmed by India's High Court. The men can appeal their case to the Supreme Court, and ask the president for clemency.
The victim's family, along with numerous politicians and government officials, had long called for the men to be executed. The case has been closely followed across India, seen as a reflection on rampant mistreatment of women and the government's inability to deal with crime.
In March the main accused, Ram Singh, hanged himself in jail while in solitary confinement. His suicide prompted outrage from the victim's family.
Singh, one of six people on trial over the attack, was found dead shortly before dawn after making a noose out of his clothing, according to officials at Delhi's top-security Tihar jail.
A judicial magistrate began an investigation into the suicide, which will probe any security lapses.
But the father of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim said it was clear that authorities were negligent and that the family was denied justice.
It also came to light in January that the gang of men tried to run her over after the attack that left her fatally injured.
Her boyfriend, who was also beaten up and thrown off the bus after the woman had been repeatedly raped, managed to pull her to safety just in time, police are set to allege in a 1 000-page charge sheet to be presented in court on Thursday.
The 23-year-old female medical student, whose ordeal brought simmering anger about widespread sex crime in India to the boil, bit three of her attackers as she attempted to fight them off, local newspapers and TV reports said.
These injuries on the suspects, as well as forensic evidence such as blood, semen and hair samples and the testimony of the injured boyfriend, were the main form of evidence against the accused, reports and police sources said. ​​– Sapa-AP, AFP