Asha Devi, the mother of the 23-year-old paramedical student who was gang-raped and murdered in 2012, broke down in the court room after the postponement of execution of the four convicts.
The parents of Nirbhaya, as she was named after the horrific incident, had filed a plea in the Patiala House court seeking immediate execution of the convicts. Public prosecutor argued in the court that the fact that the convicts want to file mercy petitions does not stop the court from issuing a death warrant.
“Wherever we go, we are told about the rights of the convicts. What about our rights?” Nirbhaya’s mother asked the judge at the Patiala House Court.
The judge hearing the petition tried to console her saying, “I have full sympathy with you. I know someone has died but there are their rights too. We are here to listen to you but are also bound by the law.”
The court directed Tihar Jail authorities to issue a fresh notice for one week to the convicts as to whether they want to file mercy petitions and gave another date for the hearing. The next hearing is on the 7th of January.
Outside the court room as well Asha Devi broke down again, stressing the fact that the nobody bothers about her rights.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected the review petition filed by one of the convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, stating that there are no grounds to review the 2017 judgement.
“We find no grounds for review of the 2017 verdict,” the court said adding that review petition is not re-hearing of appeal over and over again.
The Patiala House Court had sentenced the convicts to death in 2017.
The incident that shook the nation dates back to December 16, 2012. The 23-year-old girl student was brutally gang-raped in a moving bus and then dumped. She succumbed to her injuries in Singapore about two weeks later. Protests erupted across the country demanding justice for the woman.
The perpetrators were nabbed and the government constituted a three-member committee headed by Justice JS Verma to look into crimes against women.
The committee came up with a set of recommendations, many of which have been legally adopted now. Stalking, a criminal offence under IPC Sec 354D, was one of the many recommendation of the committee.