Leading a life of dignity, equality is right of every girl: Sonia Gandhi

Congress party president on Friday Sonia Gandhi welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict to uphold the death sentence of the four convicts involved in the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-raoe and murder case.

"Four years after the heartbreaking Nirbhaya case that agonised the soul of India, justice has been delivered. I feel deeply for the courageous family of this brave daughter of India, who rose to become a symbol of every woman's fight against sexual violence," Sonia said.

"The court's judgement is a reminder to each one of us to work tirelessly towards building a safe and secure environment for women," she added.

Resonating similar views, the Maharashtra Congress chief and former chief minister Ashok Chavan said the Supreme Court's verdict will provide huge relief to the parents of the girl.

"The decision taken by the apex court in the matter is difficult case in the entire country. We welcome the court's decision," Chavan told ANI.

Rashtriya Janata Dal member and former Bihar chief minister Rabri said, "This is a great decision by the Supreme Court. People who commit such crimes should be given such strict punishments only."

Earlier,Justice Dipak 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.

The lawyer of the accused A.P. Singh claimed that he will file the review petition after reading the order.

"Justice is not done. We will file a review petition after reading the order. You cannot give a death sentence to anyone for a message to the nation. The meaning of punishment is improvement. There is a right to live. In this, the human rights have been neglected, Mahatma Gandhi's ideology has been neglected as this is violence," Singh said.

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.