'Death warrants against convicts a big relief'

The death warrants against the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case has come as a big relief, said her grandfather at their native village here on Tuesday.

The convicts--Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta--will be hanged on January 22 after Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued death warrants against them.

Nirbhaya's grandfather at her native village bordering Bihar said, "Though late, the family has got justice."

He thanked the judiciary, saying though the court took almost seven years to complete the entire process, no one can say that he was denied a chance to be heard.

"It is a big relief for the family," he said.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gangraped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being dumped on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.