Nirbhaya's Mother On Hanging: Hugged My Daughter's Photo And Told Her - 'Finally You Got Justice'

'Finally, we have got justice,' said Asha Devi soon after her daughter Nirbhaya's rapists were hanged inside Tihar Jail at 5:30 am on Friday. Flashing victoy sign, teary-eyed Asha Devi recalled the long, legal battle and said that despite all 'delay tactics', the judiciary did its job. "Want to thank all - our judiciary, governments and President (Ram Nath) Kovind," Asha Devi said. "We will continue our fight for justice for India's daughters," Asha Devi said. "Our daughter is no more and won't return.We started this fight after she left us, this struggle was for her but we will continue this fight in future for our daughters. I hugged my daughter's picture and said 'finally you got justice,' a very emotional Asha Devi told reporters. Nirbhaya's father Badrinath Singh spoke about the legal battle. 'Our wait for justice was painful and agonising,' Singh said. He also said that 'we appeal for observing this day as Nirbhaya 'Nyay Diwas' (day of justice).'

Asha Devi also said: "Proud to be known as Nirbhaya''s mother. She fought so hard. And I have waited long to see this day. The flaw in our justice system were exposed. But finally all four were hanged in one go. A first of its kind of justice, which will definitely be a lesson to others."As soon as the news of the executions broke out, the crowd which assembled outside Gate No. 3 of Tihar Jail started raising slogans like "Nirbhaya Zindabad, AP Singh Murdabad". Even the coronavirus outbreak could not deter the people from assembling in large numbers outside the jail premises.

Earlier, barely three hours before the scheduled hanging, the Supreme Court in a pre-dawn hearing on Friday brought down the curtain on the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case by dismissing a plea of one of the four death row convicts against rejection of his second mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna rejected the fervent plea of Pawan Gupta that his mercy plea had been wrongly rejected by the President without considering the fact that he was a minor at the time of offence in 2012.

"The consistent view of this court is that scope for review of President''s decision in mercy petitions is very limited," the bench said. "What are the grounds on which you are challenging rejection of mercy plea by President...You had relied on school certificate to claim juvenility and are using it again and again. You are asking us to review the judgment, your juvenility claim has been rejected by lower court, Delhi High Court and us as well," it said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Delhi Police, objected the juvenility plea of Pawan Gupta and said that this had been dealt earlier by all the courts.The court also did not consider the plea of lawyer A L Singh, appearing for the death row convict Pawan Gupta, that his execution be deferred for one or two days so that he can record his statement in an assault case. Singh alleged that the convict was assaulted in prison by policemen last year.

The bench asked the Centre to consider the fervent request of the lawyer for the convicts that the family members of Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh be allowed to meet them for 5-10 minutes before hanging. Mehta said that though this is painful, the jail manual does not permit convicts to meet family members just before the hanging. On March 5, the trial court issued fresh warrants for hanging on March 20 at 5.30 am of all convicts in the case - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Singh (31). A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before she was thrown out on the road. One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in 2013. 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. 

(With agency inputs)