NEW DELHI: A judge Friday sentenced to death the four men convicted in the December gang rape and murder of a young New Delhi woman, ordering them to the gallows for a brutal attack on a moving bus that left the young woman with such severe internal injuries that she died two weeks later.

Handing down the sentence, Judge Yogesh Khanna said that “courts cannot turn a blind eye” to such crimes, saying the attack “shocked the collective conscience” of India.

One of the four, 20-year-old Vinay Sharma, broke down as the sentence was read, his wail filling the tiny courtroom. Sharma was an assistant at a gym and the only one of the attackers to graduate from high school.

The sentence must be confirmed by India’s High Court. The men can appeal their case to the Supreme Court, and ask the president for clemency.

The victim’s family, along with numerous politicians and government officials, had long called for the men to be executed.

“I am very happy our girl has got justice,” said the victim’s father, who cannot be named under Indian laws guarding his daughter’s identity as a rape victim. The case has been closely followed across India, seen as a reflection on rampant mistreatment of women and the government’s inability to deal with crime.

Two other suspects are being sought, said D. K. Arya, a seniorpolice officer. The five men arrested in Datia on Sunday are from villages near where the attack occurred Friday night as the Swiss couple camped in a forest in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh state.

The couple told police that the woman had been raped by seven or eight men, but that it was dark and they could not be sure of the exact number, Arya said. They said the husband also was attacked by the men.

The woman, 39, was treated Saturday at a hospital in the nearby city of Gwalior and was released later that day, police said. Arya said the couple was heading to the Indian capital of New Delhi, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the north, later Sunday.

The attack was front-page news in Indian newspapers and happened three months after the fatal gang rape of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus, an attack that spurred outrage over the treatment of women in Indian society and the country’s justice system.

Prior to the attack, the Swiss tourists, who were on a three-month visit, had visited the temple town of Orchha and were planning to cycle to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, nearly 210 kilometers (130 miles) away.

They set out from Orchha on Friday and pitched their tent in a forest near Jatia village when they were attacked by men armed with sticks, police said.

The men beat up the husband, tied him to a tree and then raped the woman, police said. They also stole the couple’s cellphone, laptop computer and 10,000 rupees ($185). Police said they recovered the laptop and phone from one of the men who was arrested.

The Swiss ambassador in India, Linus von Castelmur, said he spoke with the couple and assured them of the Swiss government’s help and support.

“Their health and treatment is the priority of the moment,” the Swiss Embassy said in a statement.

The embassy said it has urged a “swift investigation and for justice to be done.”

Figures from India’s National Crime Records Bureau show that a woman is raped every 20 minutes in India. However, many incidents of rape and other sexual crimes go unreported due to the stigma attached to such crimes in the conservative country. India’s conviction rate for rapes and other crimes against women is among the lowest in the world.

Last month, the Swiss government issued a travel notice for India that included a warning about “increasing numbers of rapes and other sexual offenses” in the South Asian nation, and the latest incident could prompt other countries to issue similar warnings.

Travel industry representatives in India said the attack, coming so soon after the December gang rape in New Delhi, would affect tourism.

“Such incidents will definitely have a negative impact on tourism. It is very unfortunate,” said Subhash Goyal, head of the Indian Association of Tour Operators.

NEW DELHI: Police said a man on trial for the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus committed suicide in an Indian jail Monday, but his lawyer and family allege he was killed.

Ram Singh, who was accused of driving the bus on which the 23-year-old student was raped by a group of six men in December, was under suicide watch at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail when he hanged himself with his own clothes at about 5:30 a.m., police officials said. His death is raising further questions about a criminal justice system already being criticized for failing to protect the nation’s women.

Singh, 33, had been among five defendants facing the death penalty if convicted of the attack, which horrified Indians and set off national protests. A sixth accused is being tried and jailed separately because he is a juvenile.

India’s deputy home minister, R.P.N. Singh, said an inquiry had been ordered into the suicide, according to the Press Trust of India.

“The inquiry is being conducted and it would be premature to make any statement about the details of the incident,” said Vimla Mehra, the director general of the jail.

Ram Singh’s family and lawyer alleged foul play in his death.

“There were no circumstances which could have led to Ram Singh committing suicide. There was no mental stress. He was very happy,” his lawyer V.K. Anand said. Lawyers for the defendants had previously accused police of beating confessions out of the men.

Indian jails have a reputation for overcrowding, poor management and brutal treatment of inmates.

Ram Singh’s father, Mangelal Singh, said his son had been raped in prison by other inmates and had been repeatedly threatened by inmates and guards. Nevertheless, he said he visited his son four days ago and the man appeared fine and gave no hint of any despair that could drive him to take his own life.

Ram Singh also had a badly injured hand and would have been unable to hang himself, his father said, speaking from outside his small home in a New Delhi slum.

“Somebody has killed him,” he said, insisting he would push for a top-level investigation into the death.

Mangelal Singh said he feared for the safety of another son who is also on trial in the rape case.

The defendants were being housed in separate buildings on the jail grounds and were all under suicide watch, a jail official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The rape victim and a male friend were attacked after boarding the bus Dec. 16 as they tried to return home after watching a movie, police say. The six men, the only occupants of the private bus, beat the man with a metal bar, raped the woman and used the bar to inflict massive internal injuries to her, police say. The victims were dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

The brutal attack set off nationwide protests about India’s treatment of women and spurred the government to hurry through a new package of laws to protect them.

Singh’s death comes as the trial was deep underway, with another hearing scheduled for Monday. The four surviving defendants were produced in court, but left after a short time because of an attorney’s strike.

Vivek Sharma, a lawyer representing another defendant, said he planned to ask the court to provide greater protection for his client.