Convicts' execution will empower Indian women, Nirbhaya's mother responds to Jan 22 death warrant

New Delhi: It is official. Four persons who raped 23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus in 2012, will get the noose at 7 am on January 22.

The Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued the death warrant on Tuesday. As per the death warrant, Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma will be executed at Tihar Jail. 

This will bring curtains to one of the most senstaional cases that hogged headlines and airtime for the last seven years.

The convicts' lawyers have said that they will move a curative petition in the Supreme Court. The convicts can also submit a mercy petition to the President.

Nirbhaya's parents expressed happiness over the decision.

"My daughter has got justice. Execution of the 4 convicts will empower the women of the country. This decision will strengthen the trust of people in the judicial system," she told news agency ANI.

"I am happy with the court's decision. It will instill fear in people who commit such crimes," her father said.

Timeline

Nirbhaya was gang-raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a running bus in south Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road.

After receiving treatment in New Delhi for a few days, she was transferred to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012.

All the accused in the case, including a juvenile, were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody. The rest went on trial in a fast-track court.

The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility.

On September 10, 2013, the four accused were found guilty of rape and murder and three days later, sentenced to death by hanging.

On March 13, 2014, the Delhi High Court upheld the verdict and the death sentences.

In 2017, the Supreme Court had upheld the capital punishment awarded by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.

On July 9, 2018, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.

In December 2019, the Supreme Court rejected the review plea filed by Akshay Kumar Singh. He had sought clemency arguing life in Delhi is anyway becoming short due to rising air and water pollution.