In what might bring some amount of closure in the horrific Nirbhaya rape case that took place in Delhi in December 2013, four men convicted of the crime were hanged to death at 5:30 AM on Friday at Delhi’s Tihar jail. These convicts are Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).
Nirbhaya’s mother told Deccan Herald, “Finally they have been hanged. It was a long fight. Today Nirbhaya got justice. We got justice. This day is dedicated to the daughters of the country. I thank the judiciary and the government,”
The 23 year old physiotherapist was raped on the intervening night between December 15 and 16 while travelling in a bus. Originally six men were nabbed and tried in the case. Of these Ram Singh ended up allegedly committing suicide in prison in March 2013, while a juvenile was released after serving a three year sentence, leading to intense nationwide outrage. Police had filed a chargesheet in January 2013 and a Delhi court had convicted them in September 2013.
India reserves the death penalty for rarest of rare cases, and according to the court that awarded them the death penalty, this case fell under that criteria. The convicts moved a last minute plea for a stay on execution and the Supreme Court conducted a special hearing at hearing at 2:30 A.M where the convicts’ pleas were rejected. Three hours later they were hung.