Nitish Kumar lauds Nirbhaya case verdict

Lauding the Supreme Court's verdict in the Nirbhaya gang rape case, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that though justice was delayed but the decision was good.

"It has taken time but the decision is good. It will give a good impact. The effect will be such that whoever will try to commit such crime will fear before doing it", Nitish told ANI.

Meanwhile, women rights activist and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav hailed the apex court's verdict, while expressing happiness over the punishment awarded to the rapists.

"I am very happy to hear the Supreme Court's decision. The judgement came late. It should have come sooner. I will also fight for the girls who are still awaiting justice," she told ANI.

Dubbing rape as heinous and devilish act, Aparna said that the criminal should be treated with the same mentality.

Earlier in the day, the apex court upheld the earlier order of death sentence to four convicts in the December 16, 2012 gang rape case.

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

Justice Dipak Misra observed in its order that 'it's a story of some different world'.

"Taking the serious injuries, the severe nature of offence committed by th3e convicts, we are upholding the sentence," the order said.

The next option for the convicts is to appeal against their death sentence to President Pranab Mukherjee.

The convicts - Akshay, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh had 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.

In December 16, 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.