The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a review petition on the death sentence filed by three of the four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case.
The top court had upheld the death sentences in May 2017, following which the convicts had filed a review petition.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan rejected the review pleas filed by Mukesh (29), Pawan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23), saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the verdict.
"We knew that review petition will be dismissed. But what next? So much time has gone by & threat to women have gone up in this span. I believe sooner they're hanged, better it is," Badrinath Singh, father of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim quoted as saying.
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"Our struggle does not end here. Justice is getting delayed. It's affecting other daughters of the society. I request judiciary to tighten their judicial system, serve justice to Nirbhaya by hanging them as soon as possible & help other girls&women," Asha Devi, victim's mother told ANI. "They were not juveniles. It is unfortunate that they committed such crime. This decision reaffirms our trust in the court that we will definitely get justice," Asha Devi added.
Speaking to the media, the family lawyer said, "It is a victorious moment. Faith in the judiciary has been reinstated. We are satisfied today. The only request to the Central govt is to expedite whatever process is to follow now."
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The apex court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case of gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on December 16, 2012 here.
The woman was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The apex court during the hearing of the case on Monday said that the death row convicts failed to point out "error apparent on the face of record" in the judgement.
The bench also said that these three convicts were heard elaborately during the stage of their appeal against the Delhi High Court's judgement and no case has been made out by them for review of the apex court's verdict upholding the death penalty.
The fourth death row convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (31), did not file a review petition against the apex court's May 5, 2017 judgement.
One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here.
A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
