Nirbhaya Case: Supreme Court upholds death sentence of four convicts

 The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death penalty awarded to four persons in the rape-cum-murder of 23-year-old girl in Delhi in 2012, saying “their acts itself demonstrate the mental perversion and inconceivable brutality” and are “bound to summon tsunami of shock in the mind of the collective.”
 
A three-judge bench presided over by Justice Dipak Misra concluded that  the “brutal, barbaric and diabolic nature of the crime” is manifest from the acts committed by the accused persons.
 
The court enumerated circumstances like the assault on the girl and her boy friend with iron rod, robbing them of their valuables and repeated insertion of the rod into the body of the victim and pulling out of the internal organs, among others to reject their appeals against their conviction and sentence.
 
“It is manifest that the wanton lust, the servility to absolutely unchained carnal desire and slavery to the loathsome beastility of passion ruled the mindset of the appellants to commit a crime which can summon with immediacy “tsunami” of shock in the mind of the collective and destroy the civilised marrows of the milieu in entirety,” the bench said.
 
Sveral mitigating factors like young age and good conduct in custody canvassed by the convicts Vinay, Akshay Kumar, Pawan and Mukesh throught their counsel A P Singh and M L Sharma could not come to any help for them.
 
"When we cautiously, consciously and anxiously weigh the aggravating circumstances and the mitigating factors, we are compelled to arrive at the singular conclusion that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances now brought on record,” the bench, also comprising Justice R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, said.
 
“Therefore, we conclude and hold that the High Court has correctly confirmed the death penalty and we see no reason to differ with the same,” the bench added.
 
Justice Banumathi passed a separate but concurring verdict in the case, that has triggered massive outrage across the country and drew international attention.
 
“I hope that this gruesome incident in the capital and death of this young woman will be an eye-opener for a mass movement “to end violence against women” and “respect for women and her dignity” and sensitizing public at large on gender justice,” she said.
 
Public at large, in particular men, are to be sensitized on gender justice. The battle for gender justice can be won only with strict implementation of legislative provisions, sensitization of public, taking other pro-active steps at all levels for combating violence against women and ensuring widespread attitudinal changes and comprehensive change in the existing mind set,” Justice Banumathi added.
 
Pronouncing the verdict in a packed courtroom, the apex court found as impeccable the evidence produced by Delhi police, DNA profiling, fingerprints etc.
 
The court agreed with senior advocate Sidharth Luthra representing Delhi police that there was no reason for police to rope in accused to implicate them in the case. It accepted his plea that the investigation was flawless.
 
Just as the apex court pronounced its verdict, a group of activists and parents of the victim could not hide a sense of relief. Some of the activists even expressed their joy by clapping, rarely seen inside the court rooms.
 
The Delhi High Court had on March 13, 2014 confirmed the capital punishment to four convicts awarded by the trial court.
 
The victim, a 23-year-old paramedic, was brutally assaulted and gang raped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi and thrown out of the vehicle with her friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She had died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
 
The prime accused, Ram Singh, was found dead in a cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were abated. The other accused was found minor and faced proceedings before juvenile court.