Nirbhaya case: Top court upholds death sentence to four convicts
NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentences for four men convicted in the fatal 2012 gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in New Delhi that led to mass protests and more stringent laws.
“The Supreme Court has confirmed the Delhi High Court verdict after hearing the evidence and arguments presented by the prosecution,” M L Sharma, a lawyer representing two of the convicts said.
Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were convicted and handed death sentences by lower courts for the fatal rape of Jyoti Singh, which they challenged in the Supreme Court.
Six men, including one who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, were accused of brutally gang-raping physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh, on the night of December 16, 2012.
Ram Singh, who was the bus driver and one of the perpetrators, committed suicide in Tihar jail at the beginning of the trial. Another, the juvenile, was let off in 2015 after three years in a correction home.
Singh died two weeks after the assault due to internal injuries, some of which were inflicted with a metal rod.
The court said the “brutal, barbaric and diabolic nature” of the crime presented by the prosecution and inves- tigative officers far outweighed the mitigating circumstances raised by the defence lawyers, which included family circumstances and conduct in custody.
One of the convicts is a fruit-seller, another a gym instructor, the third and fourth were bus cleaners.
“If there ever was a case for hanging, this was it,” the judgment said.
A P Singh, the lawyer representing three of the convicts said: “This makes a mockery of human rights. If you cannot give life, do not take life.”
The defence lawyers said would file review petitions.
If the Supreme Court turns down the appeals against the death sentences, the convicts can file at least two more petitions with the court.
After that they can approach the president of India with a mercy petition to commute the death sentence into life imprisonment. they