A last request for mercy had been rejected by India’s top judge at the last minute. At 5:30 a.m. local time this morning, the four perpetrators sentenced to death for rape died by the rope. Justice was delayed but not refused, said the victim’s mother after the execution of the convicted: “I am satisfied today because our daughter has finally been given justice. The whole country was ashamed of this crime. The nation got justice today. »
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During the group rape of a student in Delhi in December 2012, the victim had died of her injuries days after the brutal act. The case of 23-year-old physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh had caused horror in India and around the world. The young woman was ambushed and raped when she went to a bus to go home with a friend after the cinema.
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The friend was beaten and robbed by six attackers, Singh raped, and severely mistreated with an iron bar. After more than an hour, the men threw their victims off the bus on a main road and even tried to run over them. Singh died about two weeks later of severe internal injuries in a Singapore hospital.
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Hanged at the same time
Shortly after the group rape, thousands on the streets demanded the immediate execution of the men. If countless rapes remain otherwise unpunished in India, the Indian judiciary in this case cracked down once and for all after several days of popular protests. People’s anger also led to tougher laws against rapists.
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The verdict was soon clear, but the perpetrators took legal action against it for years, they also tried to seek mercy from the president. The execution of the four perpetrators had already been postponed three times. It was scheduled for Friday at 5:30 a.m. (1:00 a.m.CET). The leader of the group was found dead in his prison cell in 2013 after an alleged suicide. Another party involved was only 17 years old at the time of the crime and was therefore sentenced to three years in prison. He was released in 2015.
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According to prison authorities, the four convicts Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh were led together on the gallows and hanged at the same time. The executioners carried out the death penalty in Delhi’s Tihar prison, which is considered the largest prison complex in South Asia.
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Singh’s mother Asha Devi had welcomed the court’s decision not to reschedule it. Her daughter’s soul would now “finally rest in peace,” she said. Around 400 people are on death row in India. No execution had been carried out since 2015. (kes / SDA)
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