A Delhi court on Monday, January 7, 2020, issued a death warrant for the 4 convicts, seven years after Nirbhaya was gang-raped and died in 2012.
The four convicts are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar and were found guilty in the gang-rape, torture, and killing of a young medical student in Delhi. The convicts have fourteen days to exercise their legal rights.
The 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped and brutally tortured with an iron rod, on a moving bus, in south Delhi, on December 16, 2012, before being dumped on the road, naked and bleeding.
She had boarded the nearly vacant bus in Munirka in South Delhi, along with her male friend, on her way back home on December 16, that year. She initially received treatment in New Delhi for a few days. She was then shifted to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she eventually died of her injuries on December 29, 2012.
One of the convicts had filed a review petition against the 2017 judgment of the Supreme Court, which the Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday. Nirbhaya’s mother had filed a petition with the court for a death warrant of the accused.
Nirbhaya’s parents had earlier asked a lower court to issue a death warrant, but the judge had deferred a decision until today. The Supreme Court also dismissed the last review petition in the case, filed by the convict last month. The Supreme Court, while dismissing the review petition filed by the accused said, “review petition is not re-hearing of the appeal over and over again.”
“I have been running from pillar to post for one year,” said Nirbhaya’s mother.
There were two other convicts, including a juvenile, who was released after three years in a reform home, and another had committed suicide.
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal also welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict and said, “It is a win for all the ‘Nirbhayas’ living in this country. I salute Nirbhaya’s parents, who fought for seven long years.”
A Delhi court on Monday dismissed a complaint filed by the father of one of the four convicts in the 2012 case, seeking an FIR against the sole witness in the case, for allegedly giving interviews to news channels after charging money. The sole eye-witness of the victim was a friend and was accompanying her when the incident took place. He had also sustained injuries.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “There are certain crimes where ‘humanity cries’ and this case is one of them. On that fateful day, God also must have held his head in shame for two reasons. First, for not being able to save the innocent girl, and second, for having created these five monsters.”
The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.
“This judgment will reinforce people’s faith in the judiciary. My daughter will get justice,” said Nirbhaya’s mother.