Shiv Sena hails SC's 'landmark' judgement on Nirbhaya case

After the Supreme Court upheld the earlier order of the death sentence to the four convicts in the brutal Nirbhaya gangrape case, the Shiv Sena on Friday called it a 'landmark' judgement, adding that such ruling will deter others from committing such heinous crimes.

"This is a landmark judgment and on behalf of all the women of India I would like to say that somewhere Nirbhaya has got justice. After the huge sacrifice that she has made. This types of judgment should deter other criminals. This should be a bench mark and the rate of conviction should be increased," Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande told ANI.

Meanwhile, convict lawyer A.P. Singh claimed that he will file a review petition after reading the order.

"Justice is not done. We will file 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.

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 the 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.