Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were hanged in the capital’s high-security Tihar prison in the first executions in India since 2015.
The victim died from her injuries days after being raped by six men on the moving bus in 2012. The 23-year-old physiotherapy student could not be named under Indian law but was dubbed “Nirbhaya” — “the fearless one”. The men’s convictions and sentences were handed down less than a year after the crime.
India’s top court upheld the verdicts in 2017, finding the men’s crimes had created a “tsunami of shock” among Indians. The victim was heading home from a cinema with a male friend when six men tricked them into getting on a private bus. They beat her friend and then repeatedly raped the woman. They dumped both victims on the roadside, and the woman died two weeks later.
Her mother, Asha Devi, thanked the courts and government after the attackers were hanged. “Today, we got justice and this day is dedicated to the daughters of the country,” she told reporters. “I could not protect her but I was able to fight for her.”The case sparked international condemnation and prompted lawmakers to stiffen penalties for rape, part of a wave of changes as India confronted what critics called its appalling treatment of women.
Facing public protests and political pressure, the government reformed some of India’s antiquated laws on sexual violence and created fast-track courts for handling rape trials that formerly could last more than a decade. The new laws prescribed harsher punishments for rapists and addressed new crimes, including acid throwing and stalking.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi today said justice had prevailed, to ensure the dignity and safety of women. He added: “Together, we have to build a nation where the focus is on women empowerment.”
A cheering crowd held placards outside the jail hailing the hangings. Another suspect hanged himself in prison before his trial and the sixth was a minor and served three years in juvenile detention. Amnesty International condemned today’s executions and urged India to abolish the death penalty.
