Two men were given life sentences by a court in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for raping and killing two Dalit sisters last year.
Two further prisoners were sentenced to six years in prison each after being found guilty of deleting evidence. The defendants will probably file an appeal with the high court.
In September, the adolescent females were discovered hanging from a tree in the Lakhimpur district.
The horrific incident had garnered media attention and aroused widespread indignation.
Six persons were detained by the police; four of them were found guilty on Friday, and two children are now awaiting verdicts.
Two of the four adults were found guilty on Friday by a special court that hears cases involving the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso), of kidnapping, gangraping, and killing the girls.
Judge Rahul Singh stated on Monday that the two defendants’ life sentences will “run until their last breath” and that the crime was among the “rarest of the rare”. Additionally, they each must pay a fine of 41,000 rupees ($500; £390).
The bodies of the two girls, ages 17 and 15, were discovered hanging on September 14 in the neighbourhood of their home in Tamoli Purva hamlet, around 124 miles (more than 200 kilometres) from Lucknow, the state capital.
Police had detained each of the six suspects less than twenty-four hours after the murder.
According to the police, the girls had “willingly gone” on their bike with several of the accused since they were friends with them. According to them, the accused raped and strangled the girls while pressuring them to be married, and subsequently, with the assistance of their friends, hanged the victims from a tree.
However, the girls’ family had cast doubt on the inquiry and claimed that the accused had abducted the sisters from somewhere other than their house.
The relatives of the accused, who maintained their sons were innocent, also refuted the police claim.
