SC to decide today: Will Nirbhaya rapists be spared or hanged?

Almost six years after the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012, the Supreme Court is all set to decide on Monday whether four men, involved in the sin, will have their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment or not. The verdict of the apex court will be announced on the review petition filed by the convicts at 2 pm.

Upholding the verdict of the Delhi High Court and the trial court, the Supreme Court had on May 5, 2017 awarded the four men – Mukesh (29), Pawan Kumar Gupta (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) to death for raping the 23-year-old woman, fatally wounding her and leaving her to die by the road.

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After the verdict, the accused had appealed to the court with a plea to review their, saying it was “cold-blooded killing in the name of Justice”. The apex court agreed to hear their request in November, 2017 and after hearing the arguments of both the sides, a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra reserved the order in May, 2018.

Out of the six accused, bus driver Ram Singh killed himself in his prison, while the youngest one, just days short of 18 when he committed the crime, was sent to juvenile home.

The 23-year-old victim was brutally raped and assaulted on December 16, 2012. She was flown to Singapore for treatment where she died on December 29, 2012. After the incident, the woman came to be known as “Nirbhaya” or fearless, and it triggered public outrage and major changes to laws on sexual crimes against women came in action in India. Her parents have said that all the rapists should be hanged, including the youngest.

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Image Courtesy: Expertily