Bengaluru, Feb. 11 -- The Karnataka high court has upheld the death sentence awarded to three men convicted for the gang rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, holding that the crime was "barbaric and inhuman," and fell within the "rarest of rare category"

In a February 6 order, a bench of justice HP Sandesh and Venkatesh Naik T described the offence as a "diabolical" act that shocked the collective conscience of society, and must be curbed with "iron hands."

The court said that imposing a lesser sentence on the convicts will send a wrong message to society and the public at large, undermine the gravity of the offence and fail to serve the goals of deterrence and societal denunciation in cases involving brutal sexual violence against...