4 CONVICTS TO HANG IN THE NIRBHAYA RAPE CASE ON 22 JANUARY

A case that wounded the nation finally witnessed the light of justice after seven years of beating around the bush. The four accused, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh, of torturing, gang-raping and murdering the medical student in 2012 were found guilty.

The execution of the four will take place in Tihar Jail on 22nd January at 7 am and the court has provided them with 14 days to use their legal remedies within the same buffer. The death warrant was issued against the convicts by the additional session judge Satish Kumar Arora, while AP Singh, the lawyer of the convicts confirmed that they will be filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court.

AAP National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: "There is some sense of satisfaction after the issuance of death warrants against the convicts in the Nirbhaya case. It took seven years. This system will have to change. Such a system must be put in place, which ensures that the rapist is hanged within six months."

Reportedly all the convicts broke down in the jail after the death warrant was issued. However, when the judgment was pronounced, the courtroom was filled to the brim with emotions among the family members and others as well. The crime that provoked the entire nation to come out on the streets and hit the highest levels of brutality stirred a change in the laws, in the country to ensure the safety of women.

"This judgment will reinforce people's faith in the judiciary and empower women. My daughter will get justice," said Nirbhaya's mother.

Demanding the death penalty for the four convicts, Ms. Maliwal, who had gone on an indefinite strike last December stated her opinion on the verdict that the judgment should not have taken so long, six months should be the maximum time for judgment for a crime of this nature, seven years is too much.

"I appeal to the Centre to ensure that in the future, the death penalty should be awarded within six months so that justice is provided swiftly. It has to be guaranteed that perpetrators will be punished at the earliest," she added.

The convicts henceforth will be kept in separate cells at solitary confinement for the next 14 days while they can use their final legal options, and will be allowed to meet their families once. It is expected that the execution will be taking place of the convicts, all at once in Jail 3 of Tihar where the dummy trials have started for gallows tests. Officials have stated that the ropes to hang the rapists have been brought in from Buxar, Bihar, similar to the ones that were used to hang the 2013 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The 23-year-old medical student, who was travelling with a friend after a movie, boarded the bus from South Delhi. She died a few days after she was brutally gang-raped on the bus, horrendously tortured with an iron rod, and was later thrown on the streets naked and bleeding in 2012 on 16th December.

Arguing against any review of the death sentence, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said last month: "There are certain crimes where 'humanity cries' and this case is one of them. On that fateful day, God also must have held his head in shame for two reasons, first for not being able to save the innocent girl, and second, for having created these five monsters."