Have lost will to live, SC has let us down: Parents of Chhawla gang-rape victim after SC acquits 3 accused

The SC on Monday acquitted three men sentenced to death for the gang-rape and murder of the 19-year-old woman in Delhi's Chhawla area in 2012

"We have not just lost the battle but also the will to live," said the mother of Chhawla gang-rape victim as she broke down following the Supreme Court's decision on Monday to acquit all the three accused.

The victim's father said the apex court has "let them down" and they have lost faith in the judiciary after fighting for over 11 years.

He also alleged that the system is taking advantage of their poverty.

The Supreme Court acquitted three men sentenced to death for the gang-rape and murder of the 19-year-old woman in Delhi's Chhawla area in 2012.

In 2014, a trial court awarded death penalty to the three accused, terming the case "rarest-of-rare". The judgment was later upheld by the Delhi High Court.

The three men are accused of abducting, raping and brutally killing the woman in February 2012. Her mutilated body was found three days after she was abducted.

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"Even after 11 years, this is the verdict. We have lost it...We lost the battle...I was living with this hope...I have lost my will to live. I thought my daughter would get justice," the victim's mother said, breaking into tears outside the apex court premises.

The father of the victim said "what was supposed to happen with criminals ultimately happened with us".

"It has been 11 years since we have been running from pillar to post. The lower court also announced its verdict. We were relieved. From High Court also we were given assurance. But Supreme Court let us down. What was supposed to happen with criminals ultimately happened with us," he told PTI.

"The law and order system in our country is not for poor people. If this had happened with a rich influential person or a politician, would they also have faced the same fate like us? Overall, its like taking advantage of poverty," he added.

According to the prosecution, the woman worked in Gurugram's Cyber City area and belonged to Uttarakhand. She was returning from her workplace and was near her home when the three men abducted her in a car.

When she didn't return home, her parents lodged a missing person report, the prosecution said, adding that the woman's mutilated and decomposed body was found in a village in Haryana's Rewari.

The police found multiple injuries on the woman's body. Further investigation and autopsy revealed she was attacked with car tools, glass bottles, metal objects, and other weapons. She was also raped, they said.

Police arrested the three men involved in the crime and said one of the accused allegedly took revenge after the woman turned down his proposal.