New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj Tuesday said death penalty should be given to the four men convicted for the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern.

"All the four convicts should be given death penalty. This will help in controlling the rape menace. This will set an example for the future," Sushma Swaraj told reporters.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat said: "The Dec 16 (gang rape) case is a horrendous and barbaric crime. The judgment of guilt need not have taken so long."

"Even in an open and shut case (like this), the court took nine months for the verdict... it indicates how the legal process works in the country. Let us wait and see what is the sentence," she said.

Former home secretary R.K. Singh said: "We do hope that will be a capital punishment. We have always believed that this was one crime which fully deserves a capital punishment."

A Delhi court Tuesday convicted four men for the Dec 16, 2012, gang rape of the physiotherapy intern, who subsequently died of her grave injuries.

The gory attack sparked nationwide protests and nudged the central government into enacting a stringent anti-rape law.

While an accused was found dead in a cell in Delhi's Tihar Jail, a juvenile involved in the crime was Aug 31 sent by the Juvenile Justice Board to a reform home for three years after it concluded that he was involved in rape and murder.

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