Sentencing is expected tomorrow and the culprits could get the death penalty (hanging). In December 2012, six men raped a female student, who died from the injuries she suffered during the ordeal. A UN study reveals that one in four men in Asia has committed sexual violence at least once. Main reasons are a sense of entitlement (73 per cent), a desire for entertainment (59 per cent), and a wish to punish (38 per cent).

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - This morning, a court in New Delhi convicted four of the six men charged in connection with a dreadful gang rape that occurred in the city on 16 December 2012, which culminated in the victim's death. The four-Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta (pictured)-were found guilty of rape, murder, attempted murder, crimes against nature, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Sentencing is expected tomorrow, and the judges could impose death by hanging.

Of the other two sex offenders, one committed suicide in jail a few months ago, and the other, who was under age at the time of the rape, was sentenced to three years in reform school on 31 August.

The victim, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, died of her injuries. The violence she suffered unleashed a wave of indignation across India, prompting the central government to revise rape legislation, introducing stricter penalties, including the death penalty, especially in cases of gang rape.

Today, Lancet, a leading British medical journal, released the findings of a study commissioned by the UN on rape in the Asia-Pacific region.

The survey of more than 10,000 men from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka found that over one in ten men report having raped at least one woman who was not their partner. When wives and girlfriends are included, the proportion was one in four men.

The country with the worst record was Papua New Guinea-Bougainville Island, with 6 out of 10 (62 per cent) admitting to having committed ​​at least one rape in their life, followed by Indonesia (48.6 per cent in Papua province, 26.2 per cent in urban centres, and 19.5 per cent in rural areas), China (26.2 per cent), Cambodia (20.4 per cent), Sri Lanka (14.5 per cent) and Bangladesh (14.1 per cent in rural areas; 9.5 per cent in urban areas).

Asked why they rape, 73 per cent of the men said they did it "for reasons of sexual entitlement". About 59 per cent said they did it for entertainment or out of boredom, whilst 38 per cent said they had raped a woman in order to punish her. About 58 per cent of men who raped a woman who was not their partner had committed their first rape as teenagers. Just under half (45 per cent) said they had raped more than one woman.

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