All four convicts hanged to death in Tihar Jail
New Delhi: All four convicts in the ghastly 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case were hanged to death in the wee hours on Friday. Hangman Pawan Jallad carried out the execution at 5:30 AM in the high-security Tihar Jail in the national capital. All the four convicts were hanged at the same time for the same crime, the first time in the history of Tihar Jail. Tihar Jail in Delhi is the largest prison complex in South Asia.
The victim’s mother thanked the judiciary and government. She said, “Finally they have been hanged, it was a long struggle. Today we got justice, this day is dedicated to the daughters of the country.”
“Our daughter is no more and won’t return. We started this fight after she left us, this struggle was for her but we will continue this fight in future for our daughters. I hugged my daughter’s picture and said finally you got justice,” she added.
Just before the hanging, one of the convicts approached the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of second mercy plea by the President. He also sought stay on the death sentence. A special three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice R Banumathi and comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna conducted hearing for 45 minutes (2:30 AM to 3:15 AM) and rejected his plea. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had also trashed the plea of all convicts at around 11 PM.
Hangman Pawan was called to the national capital from Meerut earlier this week. On Tuesday, he had conducted a mock execution to test the Manila ropes. According to reports, the Manila ropes used in the hanging were specially brought from Buxar Jail in Bihar.
The death warrants for March 20 at 5.30 AM were issued by a trial court on March 5 after being deferred by a court thrice on the grounds that the convicts had not exhausted all their legal remedies and that the mercy petition of one or the other was pending before the President.
All four were convicted for raping and killing a student in December 2012 on Delhi roads. The crime took place when the victim and her male friend were returning home after watching a film at night in South Delhi.
The incident had triggered massive public outrage across the country. This prompted the government to amend the laws related to sexual offences and insert a provision for death penalty in cases of rape.
According to the police’s claim, all six accused were arrested within 24 hours of the crime. The six people included the four convicts (hanged today) and a juvenile. The sixth accused allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial. The juvenile accused was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home. He was declared as 17 years and six months old on the day of the crime by the Juvenile Justice Board which relied on his birth certificate and school documents.