The Supreme Court today confirmed the death sentence awarded to the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 sensational gangrape and murder case, terming it the 'rarest of rare', most brutal, barbaric and diabolical attack on the 23-year-old paramedic student.
Script: Saswat Singhdeo; Editing: Suraj Wadhwa
The case sent a "tsunami of shock" all over, the apex court said, adding that the convicts treated the victim as an object of enjoyment, with the single purpose of ravishing her.
A three-judge bench, through a unanimous verdict, upheld the Delhi High Court judgement which had concurred with the trial court decision.
Those who will face the gallows are Mukesh (29), Pawan (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).
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One of the accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail, while a convicted juvenile was sentenced three years of punishment in a reform home.
“Evidence of victim’s friend is unimpeachable. Can’t disregard the CCTV footage establishing the movement of the bus. Custodial confession do not remotely create a dent in police investigation,” the Supreme Court said.
On December 16 2012, the young woman and her friend were lured into a private bus in the evening in Delhi where they were then attacked and the woman gang-raped by six men, brutalized with an iron rod before dumping them on to a road. The woman died due to the injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012.
A trial court sentenced four convicts to death penalty and the high court had confirmed the sentence. The number of accused came down from six to four as one of the accused, Ram Singh, who drove the bus around the city, hanged himself in prison in March 2013 before conviction, while another person was months short of turning 18, thus a juvenile at the time of the crime.
The juvenile was sentenced to three years in prison -- the maximum punishment for minors. He walked out of a reforms home in December 2015. His was the first verdict in a case that sparked debate over whether India is too soft on young offenders. The crime forced an overhaul of juvenile laws, allowing juveniles between 16 and 18 years to be treated as an adult if they commit a heinous crime.
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The convicts - Akshay, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh – had challenged the Delhi High Court order, which had sentenced them to the gallows, in the supreme Court. The last option they have is a review petition or presidential pardon.
(With inputs from PTI)
