Justice for Nirbhaya Served: 4 convicts for gang-rape hanged 7 years after gruesome crime

Four men convicted for the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case were executed early this morning at Delhi's Tihar Jail. The four men were hanged at Tihar Jail hours after the Supreme Court refused to grant them relief in a midnight hearing. The four men convicted for the 2012 infamous Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case have been executed on the early morning of 20.03.2020. More than seven years after a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi, justice has been served. The four men- Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh -- were hanged at 5:30 am at Delhi's Tihar Jail, just hours after the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in a midnight hearing, refused to grant any of them relief and stay their executions. The four were hanged till death simultaneously, a first in Tihar Jail's history. The ghastly Nirbhaya gang rape took place on December 16, 2012. Five adult men, along with a juvenile brutally and repeatedly raped a 23 year old woman in a moving bus in Delhi. Not only this, she and her friend were also beaten with a metal bar before being dumped by the criminals on the road. The woman (later dubbed as Nirbhaya) succumbed to her injuries and died two weeks later. Four of the adults were sentenced to death, while the fifth had hanged himself in the prison itself. Of the six, one was a juvenile and was convicted by the juvenile justice board. He served three years in a reformation home and was released. The convictions and the death penalties ordered to the four accused were upheld by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. The last few months saw a flurry of petitions being filed by the four convicts. In their pleas, the convicts sought the Supreme Court to review their death sentences. However, all pleas were rejected by the court. The convicts also pleaded for mercy from the President of India. The President, however, rejected all the mercy petitions. In the last 24 hours, some of the four convicts again moved various courts seeking relief from the death penalty. All the courts, which included the Patiala House Court in Delhi, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, refused to intervene and stay/stop the executions/hangings of the convicts. After the Supreme Court rejected the final plea at around 3:30 am, the said four convicts were hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail at 5:30 am. LawRato.com, India's leading legal advice platform has been helping Nirbhaya's parents in their fight for making this country a safer place for women. We have provided them with experienced lawyers pro-Bono, and helped in raising awareness to ensure the Hon'ble Supreme Court fast-tracks the related hearings, and upholds the death sentence verdict of the lower courts.

For a detailed timeline on the Nirbhaya case, click here.