‘I hugged her photo and told her justice was served’

nNEW DELHI: Asha Devi was a relieved woman on Friday as four of the six convicts who had brutally assaulted and gangraped her 23-year-old daughter in a moving bus on December 16, 2012, were hanged at 5.30am on Friday, bringing her sevenyear-long battle for justice to an end.

When asked about the first thing she did after the hanging, she said, “I came home, folded my hands in front of my daughter’s photo and hugged it, telling her that justice has finally been served.”

On Friday, after the hanging was confirmed, Devi went to a temple near her house in Dwarka. She said several people from Ghaziabad, Dehradun and other places called to congratulate her.

“All day long, I had people congratulate me on justice finally being served. Though the execution was late, it will help the government make necessary changes in the law so that the same delay is not repeated again,” Devi said.

Devi added that this would set a precedent for others in the country, and families would raise their boys, warning them of the example of the convicts who were hanged after both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court rejected their last-minute pleas to stay the execution.

Describing the last seven years of struggle, Devi said that she was from a background where women are given complete freedom, which is where she got the strength to fight the tiring court battle.

“I have never differentiated between a boy and a girl, and have treated both my children equally. I cannot forget the state in which I saw my daughter. She was killed with such heinousness…the last few days of her life, she struggled to survive but failed.

“That shook me and I have had sleepless nights since. The loss can never be repaired but I hope to help others and continue living,” she said.

Her husband, Badrinath Singh, said he would continue fighting for women’s issues. “We will continue fighting together to make the society a better place to live in so that such an incident is never repeated again,” he said.

“Everyone was in a celebratory mood today. We held the last edition of the candle march in our society where people sang, danced and distributed sweets. It could not have been better,” he said.