Justice is finally done, says Nirbhaya’s mother

Asha Devi, the mother of Nirbhaya, said “Our wait for justice was painful and agonising but we finally got it” after the four men who raped and killed her daughter were hanged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail on Friday morning. They were hanged over seven years after the young medical student was gang-raped and tortured on a moving bus.

Asha Devi also said, “We will continue our fight for justice for India’s daughters. Our wait for justice was painful and agonising. We finally got justice”. She said she hugged her daughter’s photo.

Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh spent their last few hours in isolation.

I want to thank everyone, judiciary, government for this. The courts proactively dismissed all petitions. The country was ashamed in 2012. We all have waited so long for this day. Today’s dawn will be a new dawn as my daughter will get justice. It will also be a new dawn for daughters of India. My daughter’s soul will be at peace. – Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother

Less than two hours before the hanging, the Supreme Court dismissed the final petition of the convicts. The four men refused to eat and were up all night, said officials. The entire jail was on lockdown through the night.

The convicts were taken out of their cells at 3:30 am. The four filed multiple petitions over the past few months, managing to stall their execution thrice at the eleventh hour. One of their lawyers pleaded that they be sent to the India-Pakistan border but not hanged.

Before he was taken to the gallows, one of the convicts, Vinay, pleaded with jail officials and asked for forgiveness, jail sources said. Vinay had earlier attempted to hurt himself by banging his head against a wall in his cell.

Their bodies were kept hanging for 30 minutes as per the rules after which a doctor declared them dead.

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