Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: It has been nine months but the wounds on nation’s conscious were still fresh on Tuesday when the four adult accused in the Delhi gang-rape case were pronounced as guilty of rape and murder of Nirbhaya.
The pain that 23-year-old Nirbhaya went through when she was gang-raped, mutilated and left to die on the road had united the nation to seek justice for her. And, justice was delivered today; the quantum of sentence – the accused can be sentenced to death – will be awarded tomorrow.
The four accused who were held guilty are Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma. All of them have pleaded not guilty.
Another accused, Ram Singh, was found hanging in his prison cell in Tihar in March.
The six accused, a juvenile, was sentenced to three-year term at a detention centre after being held guilty by the Juvenile Justice Board of gang rape and murder of Nirbhaya.
Nirbhaya, a paramedic student was raped by six people in a moving bus in New Delhi on the night of December 16. The victim later died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
The Delhi gang-rape case in more ways than one changed India and made a difference when it came to our response to crime against women, forcing the government to introduce tougher laws to punish sexual offences.
The verdict came after a seven-month long trial that which was concluded in 130 hearings.
