We are now one step closer to justice: Nirbhaya's parents welcome SC's decision

Nirbhaya's parents on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the review petition of one of the death-row convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, and said that they are now awaiting for the district court to issue a death warrant against all the convicts in the case.

"We welcome the decision. We are now one step closer to justice. We have waited for seven years and now we are closer to the final decision. They will soon be hanged and Nirbhaya will get justice," Nirbhaya's mother, Asha Devi, told ANI.

Her father, Badrinath, expressed similar sentiments and said that he is still not satisfied. "A lot of similar incidents happened in December and people felt that they would not have happened if Nirbhaya's culprits were hanged. Until the death warrant is issued against them, we will not be satisfied," he said.

A three-judge bench of the apex court today dismissed Akshay's review petition after not finding merits in it.

"We have given due consideration to grounds. Accordingly at this stage, we dismiss the review petition," the Apex Court bench, headed by Justice R Banumathi, who authored the order pronounced it.

Akshay had moved the top court seeking clemency on the ground that the "rising pollution" has already increased the mortality rates. He sought commutation of the death penalty awarded to him and four others.

Besides Akshay, three other convicts, Mukesh, Akshay and Pawan are facing the gallows for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. The girl, who was later named Nirbhaya, died of injuries a few days later.

Two more persons, including prime accused Ram Singh, were also accused of committing the crime. Singh, however, committed suicide in the Tihar jail during the trial of the case. Another accused was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime and was sent to a reform facility.

In 2013, a fast-track court had held the four condemned men guilty in the case. Their conviction was also upheld by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court later.

Akshay is only one of the four convicts who had not filed the review petition in the case. Mukesh, Pawan and Vinay had filed the review petition last year but it was rejected by the apex court. As a last resort, Vinay, filed a mercy petition last month, but later sought to withdraw it.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court is also slated to hear a petition seeking issuance of death warrants against the four convicts today at 2 pm.