Eight men were arrested for the horrific assault, one of them was found to be a minor.
A special court in Rohtak has sentenced seven men to death for the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a young, mentally challenged woman. One of the accused, a 17-year-old, is being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board of Haryana.
On December 18, the judge, Seema Singhal, pronounced the men -- including Nepal national Santosh Kumar -- guilty of gang-rape, unnatural sex, murder and destruction of evidence. The quantum of punishment was declared on Monday.
The savagery of the Rohtak attack had been a reminder of the Delhi gang-rape case, in which a 23-year-old woman was assaulted and brutally tortured in a moving bus on December 16, 2012. There too, one of the convicts was a juvenile.
The verdict in the Rohtak case comes at a time when protests are being held for changes in the Juvenile Justice Act following the release of the youngest convict in the Delhi gang-rape case.
Women at a Rohtak village protesting the brutal gang-rape and murder.
The body of the woman - who had come from Nepal for medical treatment - was found in Bahu Akbarpur village on February 4. Doctors said she had been stunned by a blow to the head and then gang-raped. Sticks, stones and condoms were found inserted in her body.
When found, the body had been half eaten by wild animals - her arms, part of the left side and key organs were missing.
The Rohtak police had failed to act fast in the case, leading to outrage among the locals. Despite the family reporting the woman missing, the police had failed to lodge a case. A case was filed three days later, only after the body was found.
Later, in face of massive public protests, the police arrested eight men. A ninth had committed suicide before he could be arrested. Another was found to be a minor in course of trial.