Mayawati said such punishments should be given across the country. (File)

BSP chief Mayawati today said the conviction in the Kathua gang rape-murder case will serve as a deterrent and prevent people from committing such heinous crimes.

A court on Monday sentenced three men, including a temple caretaker, to life imprisonment for the gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir shortly after convicting them along with three others for the crime.

Mayawati said such punishments should be given across the country. "The punishment pronounced by the court in the Kathua gang-rape and murder case in which three criminals were given life term and three were given five-year life term, it is possible that a fear of law will be created among people, and they will abstain from committing such heinous crimes," she wrote on Twitter.

"To establish the rule of law, such punishments should be given across the country," she said.

Sanji Ram, the mastermind and caretaker of the "devasthanam" (temple) where the crime took place in January last year, Deepak Khajuria, a Special Police Officer, and Parvesh Kumar -- the three main accused -- were spared death penalty.

"The perpetrators of this crime have acted in such a manner as if there is a 'law of jungle' prevalent in the society," the judge said, adding the facts in the case are many but truth is one that under a criminal conspiracy, an innocent girl has been kidnapped, wrongfully confined, drugged, raped and ultimately murdered.