Victory for Nirbhaya: Supreme Court decides the 4 convicts will hang

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence of the four convicted in the sensational December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of Delhi's Nirbhaya.

The 23-year-old paramedic was brutally assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi and thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012.

One of the six, prime accused Ram Singh, committed suicide in Tihar Jail in 2015. Another accused, a juvenile at the time of the crime, walked free later that year.

SC confirmed findings of the trial court and Delhi High Court against the four convicts in the case.

Justice Dipak Misra observed in its order that it's a story of 'some different world'.

"It's a barbaric incident. Taking the serious injuries, the severe nature of offence committed by the convicts, we are upholding the sentence," said the order said.

The top court said that the nature and manner of the crime devastated social trust and falls in 'rarest of rare' category warranting death penalty.

"Victim's dying declaration is consistent; it has been proved beyond doubt and corroborated.

"Aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances in the case; offence created 'tsunami of shock'."

The apex court further stated that criminal conspiracy of 6 men have been established and all efforts were made to destroy evidence like running bus over victim, her friend.

Tears were seen in the eyes of Nirbhaya's mother during the verdict and the entire courtroom clapped when the judgement was read out.

The medical student was not only raped and beaten, but was also 'violated with a metal rod.'

"It appears to be that a rod was inserted into her and it was pulled out



with so much force that the act brought out her intestines... That is probably the only thing that explains such severe damage to her intestines," a doctor from Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital where the woman was undergoing treatment had told the media.

A P Singh, lawyer for one of the convicts, said that justice had not been done and that he would file a review petition after reading the order. "The convict can't be hanged for sending a message to the society; the order violated basic human rights," Singh asserted.

The Delhi High Court, in its verdict on March 13, 2014, had observed that their offence fell in the rarest of the rare category and had upheld the death sentence awarded to them by the trial court.

The trial court had also awarded death penalty to the four convicts. Prime accused Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in his cell in Tihar jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were abated.

The woman had undergone multiple surgeries, where portions of her intestine, which had turned gangrenous, were removed. Doctors had said that only five percent of her intestine had been left inside her when she arrived at the medical facility. She had died in a Singapore hospital on December 29 that year.

The four convicts -- Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh -- had approached the Supreme Court against the high court's order which had confirmed the death penalty awarded to them by the trial court.

During the hearing, advocates A P Singh and M L Sharma, representing the four convicts, had said they should be given a chance to reform and considering the mitigating factors, the court should not award them death penalty. They also raised questions about the evidence collected by the police in the matter.