- Joined
- Apr 14, 2011
- Messages
- 20,688
- Points
- 113
3 men in India get death sentences for rape of Israeli tourist, murder
Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
The Israeli tourist was in the area of Hampi, which is popular with visitors, known for rocky hillocks and sprawling temple ruins.
PHOTO: UNSPLASH
Published Feb 17, 2026, 05:28 PM
Updated Feb 17, 2026, 06:13 PM
BENGALURU – An Indian court has issued death sentences to three men convicted of raping an Israeli tourist and another woman, and of killing a man near a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The men attacked a group of five people, which included the Israeli and another tourist, an American man, as they were stargazing in a village in south India in 2025, according to media reports at the time.
The group was in the area of Hampi, a popular tourist destination known for its rocky hillocks and sprawling temple ruins.
The three men raped the Israeli tourist and her homestay host, and pushed the other three members of the group – all men – into a canal, reports said. One of them, an Indian man from Odisha state, was found dead the following day.
A district court judge sentenced the three convicted assailants to death on Feb 16 on the murder charge and also imposed prison terms for other offences, including rape, according to a court document seen by AFP.
Their crime fell under “the rarest of rare category”, NDTV news network quoted the judge as saying.
The sentencing must be ratified by the Karnataka High Court and can still be appealed.
The case has highlighted chronic violence against women in the world’s most populous country, where 29,670 rapes were reported in 2023, according to latest available official data.
India imposes the death penalty by hanging, although it is rarely carried out in practice.
The last executions in India were in March 2020, when four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus were hanged, in a case that sparked huge nationwide protests. AFP
