Asha Devi lamented the fact that some people like Jaising earn their livelihoods by supporting criminals
Nirbhaya's mother, Asha Devi, on Saturday lashed out at senior lawyer Indira Jaising after the advocate, earlier in the day, had urged her to "follow Sonia Gandhi's example" and forgive the convicts.
"Who is Indira Jaising to give me such a suggestion?" Asha Devi said, "I cannot even believe how Indira Jaising even dared to suggest something such as this to me."
Asha Devi on senior lawyer Indira Jaising's statement 'follow Sonia Gandhi's example and forgive convicts': Who is Indira Jaising to give me such a suggestion?Whole country wants the convicts to be executed. Just because of people like her, justice is not done with rape victims. pic.twitter.com/k3DfgRQio3
— ANI (@ANI) January 18, 2020
Recounting her encounters with the senior advocate, Nirbhaya's mother said, "I met her many times over the years in the Supreme Court and not once she had asked for my wellbeing."
Asha Devi lamented the fact that some people like Jaising earn their livelihoods by supporting criminals. "Such people earn their livelihoods by supporting rapists, hence rape incidents do not stop," she said, adding, "The whole country wants the convicts to be executed. Just because of people like her, justice is not done with rape victims."
Earlier in the day, senior advocate Indira Jaising had urged the mother of Nirbhaya to pardon the men on death row who were convicted for the 2012 gang-rape of her daughter. The advocate added that she supports the victim's family but was against the death penalty
1. 'Follow the example of Sonia Gandhi': Indira Jaising
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Earlier in the day, senior advocate Indira Jaising had taken to Twitter to post a message for the mother of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder victim.
Making a request to Asha Devi, the advocate wrote, "While I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she did not want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against the death penalty."
While I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she didn’t not want the death penalty for her . We are with you but against death penalty. https://t.co/VkWNIbiaJp
— Indira Jaising (@IJaising) January 17, 2020
For context, Nalini was arrested and convicted for her role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
2. Case being dragged on for political gains: Asha Devi
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A day earlier, Asha Devi, Nirbhaya's mother, had lashed out at the courts and the government saying that the same people who had earlier taken out protest marches in solidarity with her daughter are now 'playing' with the case of her daughter's death "for political gains".
"The same people who had in the year 2012 gone around participating in rallies and raised slogans for women's safety are playing with the death of my daughter for their political gains. They have stopped the execution for their political gains," Asha Devi had said.
The death row convicts - Vinay, Akshay, Pawan, and Mukesh - involved in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case (aka the 'Nirbhaya' gang-rape case) were earlier slated to be executed on January 22 at 7 AM but will now instead be hanged on February 1 at 6 AM, a Delhi court ruled on Friday.
3. Long and difficult legal battle
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Asha Devi has been fighting a long and difficult legal battle for over seven years, determined to see the criminals hanged. To be precise, it took more than seven years for her to see the light of justice. Why the legal system in this country is so wound-up that it takes such an abnormally long time to close a case, even after the establishment of a fast-track court for the proceedings, remains up for investigation later.
After the 23-year-old psychotherapy intern, dubbed 'Nirbhaya', was brutally gang-raped and murdered in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi on December 16, 2012, the incident generated tremendous public outroar and media coverage demanding justice for the victim.
The accused in the case - Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, and a minor boy - were promptly arrested under charges of sexual assault and murder. In 2013, one of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody of possible suicide. All of the remaining accused were convicted by a fast-track trial court of rape and murder, and while the juvenile was given the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment at a reform facility, the rest were sentenced to death by hanging. Subsequently, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court upheld this judgment.
Earlier in December, a plea was filed by the victim's parents to expedite the death sentence of the four convicts. The accused were pronounced before the court via video conferencing. The media was asked to leave the courtroom. Paramilitary forces were deployed outside the court.
This was a brief history of the case proceedings. Finally, on January 7, the Delhi Court order the issuing of the death warrants against all four convicts of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case and fixed a date for the execution.
