The four men convicted in the 16 December Delhi gang rape case have been handed the death sentence at 2:30PM today for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student. They were also handed the maximum sentence under every section of the Indian Penal Code they were convicted under, reported the Firstpost which was maintaining a live blog of today’s sentencing.

The Indian judiciary on an average hands down 130 death sentences per year, but India has executed only three people in the last 17 years, according to Reuters which added that India voted against the UN resolution calling for the abolition of the capital punishment last year.

Whether today’s death sentence will reach the execution stage will be determined by at least a high court division bench that would have to confirm the sentence. This is because the Saket district court – a trial court – has handed down the death sentence today. If the convicts’ lawyers appeal the sentence, such appeal would be combined with the reference to the high court which will re-evaluate the evidence and re-assess the conclusions of the trial court.

Many criminal lawyers said death references are given priority by high courts particularly for highly publicised cases, which are also heard day-to-day, rather than with long adjournments, according to the WSJ.

Update: The order and the judge’s reasoning.