SC upholds Death penalty for Nibhaya convicts, entire nation along with Nirbahay's parents welcome decision

New Delhi: The Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for the 4 convicts of the ‘Nirbhaya Gang Rape and murders case’ by stating that the act was most brutal, barbaric and diabolical and that such a devilish act could not be pardoned. This verdict of the apex court on the Nirbhaya rape case that was declared on Friday, is being welcomed throughout the country. Nirbhaya’s parents said that the verdict had served justice to their daughter.

The entire nation was fixated on the verdict the Supreme Court was about to award in the ‘Nirbhaya gangrape and murder’ case. Previously, the monsters that had committed brutal atrocities on Nirbhaya, were declared guilty and sentenced capital punishment by the session’s court and the High Court. The accused had made an appeal for this verdict at the Supreme Court.

The court had appointed two Amicus Curiae (a friend of the court) to seek advice for this case. The Amicus Curiae had advised to not sentence a capital punishment to the convicts. Their argument was that though the perpetrators raped Nirbhaya, they had no intentions of killing her. Even the defence council had argued that the death penalty would not be in accordance with law. The defence council had argued that the court must think sympathetically and consider the age, the living conditions, the behaviour and the absence of a criminal history of the convicts while giving out the verdict.

However, the three-judge bench comprising of Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice R. Bhanumati and Justice Ashok Bhushan, upheld the death sentence for the convicts. The Supreme Court bench while giving out its verdict said that the brutality of the convicts was shocking and heinous and had caused a major stir throughout the nation. They said, thus this diabolical and barbaric crime could not be pardoned and the entire case would be treated as the rarest of the rare where conditions like the age, background of the accused would not be considered crucial.

The Supreme Court said that the statement of the victim prior to death could not be ignored or could not be questioned and the convicts inserted an iron rod into the victim’s body and threw her and her friend out of a moving bus in an attempt to kill them. It said that only the harshest of punishments would do justice to such a crime and this would increase the faith of the citizens in the judicial system.

Nirbhaya’s parents and all present at the court welcomed the verdict with a huge applause. Nirbhaya’s father Mr. Badrinath Singh and mother Asha Devi got emotional at this time. Nirbhaya’s parents responded to the verdict by saying that they had hoped for such a decision from the court. Nirbhaya’s parents expressed their content at the verdict by saying that their daughter was still alive in their hearts and they were struggling for the past four years to seek justice for her. They said that they were now waiting for the moment when the convicts would actually be hanged, but they would sleep peacefully tonight.

The names of the convicts sentenced by court to be hanged are Mukesh , Pavan, Vijay Sharma and Akshay Kumar. In Delhi on December 16, 2012 six people had gang raped Nirbhaya on a moving bus. One of them was a minor and the bus driver, Ram Singh committed suicide in jail 2 years ago. This case was fast tracked in the Supreme Court. The hearings for the case took place throughout the year on every Monday, Friday and Saturday in the Supreme Court. After arguments from both the sides were completed on 27th of March, the Supreme Court held the verdict until Friday.