Father of Nirbhaya's friend expresses content, hails SC's verdict

With the Supreme Court upholding its earlier order of death sentence to four convicts in the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case today, father of Nirbhaya's friend (who was there in the bus) Bhanu Pandey gave a sigh of relief saying his son, Abhishek, seems content with the decision as it will warn others before committing such crimes.

"We all are very satisfied with the verdict. My son seems content now. This decision will prohibit people from committing such heinous crimes," Pandey told ANI.

He further said the apex court has given justice and he appreciates it.

The matter was heard by the apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and consisting of Justices R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

The convicts - Akshay, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh - challenged the Delhi High Court order which had sentenced them to the gallows.

Earlier, the trial court had also sentenced all the four convicts to death penalty.

Jsutice Misra upheld rape as depravity and not curable and recently passed a woman friendly judgment saying that "no woman can be compelled to love; she always has right to say no".

In December, 2012, six people gang raped a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in a moving bus. The woman succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012.

One of the accused, Ram Singh hanged himself in prison, while another person, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, was convicted in August last year and will serve the maximum sentence of three years in a reform home.