Nirbhaya gang-rape case: Supreme Court upholds death sentence to 4 convicts

Supreme Court on 5 May upheld the Delhi High Court order of death sentence to the four convicts - Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh - in the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case.

The top court termed the incident as barbaric and said, 'taking the serious injuries, the severe nature of offence committed by the convicts, we are upholding the sentence.'

Nirbhaya's father expressed happiness over the verdict and told ANI that, "It's a victory for my family, I am very happy with the judgement."

Lawyer of convicts, AP Singh said that the justice has been denied.

"Justice not done, we will file review petition after reading the order," he said.

"Samaaj mein message dene ke liye kisi ko phansi nahi de sakte, human rights ki dhajiyaan udd gayi," he added. (Just to deliver a message to society, it is not apt to get someone hanged.)

The Supreme Court bench was headed by Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

While Delhi Police had sought capital punishment for the convicts, the defence counsel had said they deserved leniency considering their poor family background and young age.

The police had told the bench that the horrific crime committed by these men warranted death penalty and the test of being a "rarest of rare" case was satisfied in this matter and the court should also consider the effect of crime committed by them on the victim and the society at large.