Nirbhaya case: Delhi Court issues death warrant against four convicts, rapists to be hanged on January 22

A Delhi Court on Tuesday issued death warrants against all four convicts involved in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case (aka the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder incident). According to the order, the rapists will be hanged on January 22 at 7 AM.

The order was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora at 3:30 PM. 

The court added that the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days. After the court fixed the date of execution of the Nirbhaya case convicts, the lawyer representing the convicts, AP Singh, said that a curative petition will be filed at the Supreme Court.

The Tihar jail authorities have already written to UP prison officials to provide them with a hangman for the purpose of the execution.

Reacting to the judgment, Asha Devi said that her daughter, Nirbhaya, has finally got justice. "My daughter has got justice. Execution of the four convicts will empower the women of the country. This decision will strengthen the trust of people in the judicial system," said the mother of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder victim.

Asha Devi, mother of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim: My daughter has got justice. Execution of the 4 convicts will empower the women of the country. This decision will strengthen the trust of people in the judicial system. pic.twitter.com/oz1V5ql8Im

— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2020

Asha Devi has been fighting a long and hard legal battle for over seven years, determined to see the criminals hanged. To be precise, it took exactly 7 years, 22 days 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, today, the Delhi Court order the issuing of the death warrants against all four convicts of 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case and fixed a date for the execution.