"The court cannot turn a blind eye to such a gruesome act," Judge Yogesh Khanna said, while handing down the maximum punishment.

He said, "When crime against women is rising on day-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut."

"There should be exemplary punishment in view of the unparallelled brutality with which the victim was gang-raped and murdered, as the case falls under the rarest of rare category. All be given death," the court said while reading out a portion of the order.

"This is a time when serious crimes against a woman have come to the fore and now its the judiciary's responsibility to instill confidence among the women," it said.

Besides murder, the four have been also convicted for offences including gang rape, unnatural offences, attempt to murder, dacoity, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, while acquitting them of the charge of murder in dacoity.