Four men were sentenced to death few minutes ago in India for the gang rape and murder of a student in the capital Delhi, CEOAFRICA.com gathered.

The criminals are; Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta. They were found guilty of all charges earlier in the week, as their act led to violent protests across India and new laws against rape.

Delivering his judgement, Yogesh Khanna, the Judge of the court, said the case fell in the category he referred to as “rarest of rare,” rejecting pleas for a lighter sentence.

He said,” the attack shocked the collective conscience of India, and courts cannot turn a blind eye to such crimes. This case definitely falls in the rarest of rare categories and warrants the exemplary punishment of death."

As the judge pronounced that the criminals should die by hanging, Vinay Sharma, one of the criminals broke down in tears.

Reacting to the judgement, the father of the 23-year-old victim said the declaration pleases the family, “We are very happy. Justice has been delivered.”

Earlier, protesters outside the court had demanded that the four men should be hanged.

As they were escorted to the courtroom, the four men shouted to the crowd: “Brothers, save us!”