Upholding the verdict in the Nirbhaya rape case, the Supreme Court rejected the convicts’ plea for life term imprisonment and ruled that they will be given the death penalty. The verdict was given by an SC bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R Banumathi, and Justice Ashok Bhushan.
The review plea was filed by three of the four convicts namely Mukesh Singh (29), Pawan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23). The fourth convict Akshay (31) hasn’t filed a review petition yet. After today’s SC verdict in the case, the convicts are left with the option of filing a curative plea in the apex court or a mercy plea before the President.
Apart from these four, there were two more convicts including a bus driver who killed himself in the prison and a juvenile who was released after a 3-year term in the juvenile home.
The Nirbhaya case dates back to December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped by 6 men after which the girl died fighting her injuries in the hospital. The crime was so heinous and disgusting that it not only shocked the entire country but also provoked rage and anger among the masses.
It was in the May 2017 when the Supreme Court ruled out that the convicts will be given a death sentence saying that the “brutal, barbaric, and diabolic nature” of the crime could destroy a civilized society. To this verdict, the convicts appealed to the court that it was “cold-blooded killing in the name of justice”.
Later in November 2017, the Supreme Court agreed to review the petition of the convicts. In today’s verdict, the court said there was “no new material to review the order”.
Although the parents of the girl are optimistic about getting the justice they want the convicts to be hanged as soon as possible. Needless to say, the rapists who committed such a preposterous crime need to be given an equally hard-hitting punishment so that it sets an example for all those involved in crimes against women.
