After a Delhi court on Tuesday issued death warrants against all four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case, one of them broke down while the rest remained impassive when the Judge announced the execution on January 22 at 7 am, said a senior officer with Tihar jail.
When the proceedings were halted briefly as the judge seeking a clarification, Convict Mukesh Singh's mother walked up to Nirbhaya's mother, held her saree in a gesture of begging, and pleaded: "Mai apne bete ki zindagi ki bheek mangti hu. Meri jholi mein mere bete ki jaan de do (I beg you.. please spare the life of my son...give him to me..)"
Watching the same, Nirbhaya's mother too wept, but in a strong tone, responded: "Meri bhi beti thi, main kaise bhoolun uske saath kya hua. Main iss din ka intezaar saat saal se kar rahi hoon ( she was my daughter.. how can I forget what they did to her. For seven years I have waited for this."
However, after this, the judge ordered to maintain peace in the court. After the verdict, Nirbhaya's mother told reporters that the hanging of the four convicts would strengthen the country's women. She said, "This decision will strengthen people's faith in the judicial system".
On hearing the verdict, the four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) - also started crying.
A 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in the Tihar Jail.