Death for 4 Delhi murderer rapists
PTI, NEW DELHI | 13 September 2013 18:55 IST
Death sentence was today awarded to the four convicts in the sensational December 16 gangrape-cum-murder case by a court here which said the "beastly" and "hair-raising" manner in which the crime was committed against a 23-year-old girl falls in the rarest of rare category.
"Accordingly, the convicts be hanged by neck till they are dead," Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said after observing that the inhuman and ghastly acts of the convicts shocked the collective conscience of the nation and deserve exemplary punishment, which was pronounced nine months after an agonising wait.
The victim's family, which had expressed dissatisfaction when the sixth accused, a juvenile, was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in a reformation home by the Juvenile Justice Board, today heaved a sigh of relief on hearing the death penalty for the four adult convicts.
"'Halak mein saans atki thi, jo ab bahar nikli hai. Mein dhanywaad karti hu desh ke logon ka aur media ka' (We were waiting with bated breath, now we are relieved. I thank the people of my country and the media)," the victim's mother said while expressing satisfaction with the death penalty given to the convicts, which the family had been demanding.
Delivering his 20-page order in a packed courtroom, the judge noted that the "ghastly acts" of Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) requires withdrawal of the "protective arm of the community from around them".
"The crime of such nature against a helpless woman, per se, require exemplary punishment. I may leave here while saying the gravity of the incident depicts the hair-raising beastly and unparalleled behaviour.
"Subjecting of the prosecutrix to inhuman acts of torture before her death had not only shocked the collective conscience but calls for withdrawal of the protective arm of the community from around the convicts. This ghastly act of the convicts definitely fits this case in the bracket of rarest of rare cases," the judge said.
The court said "the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances in the case."
Hearing that they have been sent to gallows, a shocked Vinay started crying while the other three-Mukesh, Pawan and Akshay-sought mercy.
The death penalty reference has been sent to the Delhi High Court for confirmation.
