After more than 7 years or 2,651 days to be more precise the four convicts of the Nirbhaya gang i.e Pawan, Mukesh, Akshay and Vinay were today hanged to death in Tihar Jail at 5:30 am.
The Nirbhaya Gang Rape case will always be one of the rarest of the rare cases of the country, in which a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped by six men (one of them was juvenile) in a moving bus. The incident took place on December 16, 2012.
For the first time in independent India’s history, four convicts were hanged simultaneously in Tihar Jail.
Some of the important legal development of the case are:
2012
December 16: The incident happened.
December 17: FIR was registered.
December 29: Nirbhaya succumbs to her injuries.
2013
January 3: Chargesheet is filed against five adults accused for murder, gang-rape, attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences, and dacoity.
January 4: Case is committed to Sessions Court.
March 11: Ram Singh commits suicide in Tihar Jail.
August 31: Juvenile Justice Board sentences the juvenile convict to three years imprisonment.
September 10: Session Judge convicts Akshay, Vinay, Mukesh, Pawan under sections 302, 120-B, 365, 366, 376(2)(g), 377, 307, 201, 395, 397, 412 and sentences them to death.
2014
On March 13, 2014, the Delhi High Court upholds the death sentences awarded to the four convicts.
2017
Three years later, the Supreme Court on May 5, 2017, upheld the death penalty.
Strings of Death Warrants Issued
After exhausting all the legal remedies, the first death warrant was issued against all the convicts for January 22, 2020, at 7 a.m. The second death warrant was issued by Delhi High Court for February 17, 2020. On the same date, the third death warrant was issued for March 3, 2020. Lastly, the final and the latest death warrant was issued on March 5, 2020, for March 20, 2020, at 5:30 am. In between the issuance of these death warrants, many mercy petitions were filed to reduce the death penalty to life imprisonment but all were rejected.
Changes made in Rape Laws
This incident of brutal gang-rape case widened the definition of rape and made the punishment more stringent and also led to the passing of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. The 2013 Act, which came into effect on April 2, 2013, increased jail terms in most of the cases and also provided for the death penalty in rape cases that cause the death of the victim or leave her in a vegetative state. It also created new offences, such as the use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe, voyeurism and stalking. The punishment for gang rape was increased to 20 years for life imprisonment from the earlier 10 years of life imprisonment.
Justice has finally been served to Nirbhaya, but many girls are still appealing for justice being served to them too. The number of rape cases that are still pending in the Courts is in Lacs. Apart from the stringent laws, the new and flexible mindset of the people is necessary which can accept the changes in a women’s world.