INDIA: Nirbhaya case: 4 convicts hanged in Tihar Jail

New Delhi (IANS): More than seven years after committing the gruesome crime, the four men convicted for the brutal gang-rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in the national capital were hanged in Tihar Jail in the early hours of Friday.

The four convicts — Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta — have finally paid the price for the heinous crime they committed in December 2012.

With the execution of the convicts, the curtain has finally been brought down on the case which dragged on for several years.

Over the years, the convicts adopted several manoeuvres to delay the hanging and even succeeded thrice. This time, however, they could not escape the clutches of the judiciary and were hanged till death.

The case pertained to the gruesome gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl by six men in a moving bus on the fateful night of December 16, 2012.

The girl, who was later dubbed as Nirbhaya, and her male friend were assaulted and thrown on the road. The attackers inserted a rod into her vagina and ripped her intestines apart. The injuries were so brutal that she succumbed to them 13 days later.

The gruesome crime shook the conscience of the nation and led to country-wide protests and a change in the country’s rape laws.

All the men, including the prime accused and a minor, were nabbed within a few days of the incident.

The prime accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the Tihar Jail days after the trial began.

The juvenile, who was said to be the most brutal of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years and later released. The remaining four men were convicted for the crime on September 13, 2013, and were hanged on Friday in South Asia’s largest prison complex. With this, Nirbhaya finally got justice.

New Delhi: Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother talks to press after the hanging of four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case, in New Delhi on March 20, 2020. (Photo: IANS)

AS news of the hanging of her daughter’s four rapists flashed on the TV screen, Asha Devi heaved a sigh of relief, hugged her loved ones, held back her tears and with a voice heavy with emotion said that the sun will rise on Friday with new hopes for daughters of India.

Nirbhaya’s mother and father have been fighting an ending legal battle to see their end for seven long years.

Speaking to IANS, Asha Devi said, “Justice has been delivered today. Four convicts have been hanged till death. Today’s rising sun is dedicated to the daughters of this country.

“Not only Nirbhaya, but the entire country that was shaken to its core on that December 16 night in 2012, was delivered justice.”

She has waited with baited breath to see the day when finally her daughter’s rapists would be hanged, and Asha Devi could not contain her satisfaction when the confirmation of hanging of four convicts in the gang rape and murder case came in a little after 5.35 a.m. on Friday. A little after 6 a.m. the doctor confirmed that her daughter’s attackers were dead.

Speaking to the throng of media personnel waiting outside her residence, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said that her faith in the judiciary had been vindicated.

A visibly relieved Asha Devi said that the hangings of the four convicts would send a strong signal for deterrence. “Our fight for security of daughters across the country will continue” she said.

“I returned from the Supreme Court, hugged my daughter’s photograph and told her: ‘Today, justice has been delivered’.”

“I dedicate this day — March 20 to all the women in the country because #Nirbhaya got justice, today,” she said.

She said: “Proud to be known as Nirbhaya’s mother. She fought so hard. And I have waited long to see this day. The flaw in our justice system were exposed. But finally all four were hanged in one go. A first of its kind of justice, which will definitely be a lesson to others.”

“Will continue this struggle for other daughters in the country,” she said and remembered all the unfulfilled dreams of her child, whom she could not save.

Nirbhaya’s father too expressed satisfaction at the turn of events, which have been escaping from their grasp for — justice have been slipping through their fingers as the convicts had made every last ditch attempt to escape the gallows.

“I’m happy and the entire community is happy, the country is happy toady as justice has been delivered,” said the father and expressed his gratitude to all — media, Nirbhaya’s friends, people who have fought long and hard alongside his wife and him, the protesters who took out candle marches. He thanked all for making it happen.