NOOSE TIGHTENS ON DOOMED 4

THERE was a stark contrast between two mothers in the Patiala House courtroom on Tuesday as the judge set a date for the hanging of the four Nirbhaya case convicts.

- Aneesha Mathur

Asha Devi, mother of the December 2012 gangrape and murder victim, heaved a sigh of relief with tears of happiness as “her daughter was finally getting justice.”

On the other hand, the mother of Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts, broke down in the courtroom, asking the judge to “have mercy” on her son.

Seven years after the horrific rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, the court of additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora on Tuesday issued the ‘death warrant’ for all four accused – Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Singh and Vinay Sharma.

The convicts are now set to be executed by hanging at 7 am on January 22.

The 23-year-old was brutally raped by six men in a moving bus on December 16, 2012, and succumbed to her injuries more than a week later. One of the accused was found to be a juvenile, while the sixth accused, Ram Singh, committed suicide during the trial.

Mukesh’s mother, who was present in the courtroom for the first time since the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals of the four convicts in 2018, tried to speak to the judge during the hearing on the death warrant. “Please have mercy on my son” said the distraught mother. However, as she started to speak, Nirbhaya’s mother, who has been at the forefront of the legal battle for “justice” began to argue back.

“Don’t forget there is another mother here. What about my child?” said a visibly distressed Asha Devi. The judge had to request both the ladies not to disrupt court proceedings.

A TALE OF TWO MOTHERS