Brutality of Nirbhaya incident became focal point around which strong case was built: Investigators

Nirbhaya was virtually dead when she was brought to the hospital, a doctor who treated the 23-year old intern recalled, and it was the brutality of the entire incident that became the focal point around which a strong case was built against the accused.

Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) were executed at 5.30 am in Tihar Jail on Friday, eight years after the cold winter night of December 16, 2012 when Nirbhaya was raped in a bus that moved through the streets of the national capital.

Doctors from Safdarjung and Singapore hospital deposed as prosecution witnesses and listed out the reasons that led to her death which proved crucial in sealing the fate of the accused.

While there were reports that the juvenile was the most brutal, former Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said it was Ram Singh, the bus driver, who was the "most brutal".

"The narrative about the juvenile being the most brutal was floated about by media but in reality it was Singh, who had planned the entire act and instigated the other accused also," Kumar told PTI.

In his book "Khaki Files", Kumar has referred to the accused as "a pack of hungry wolves" who pounced on the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern but she fought them with all her might.

"As punishment for her fierce resistance, she was hurt grievously with iron rods in ways so gory and sordid, Kumar has written in his book.

Nirbhaya and her friend were thrown out of the bus on December 16,2012 without any clothes by the accused who tried to reverse the bus and crush them to death but the duo managed to roll away and survived.

According to Kumar, the doctors in Singapore who had treated Nirbhaya and the coroner who had conducted the post-mortem examination were examined through video conference in the court.

Dr Sunil Jain, head of surgery, at Safdarjung Hospital, recalled the time when he treated her and said it was "painful".

"It was such a painful thing to treat her. I can't explain the extent of brutality they had meted out. She was virtually dead when she arrived at the hospital. We did our best to maintain the continuity but we knew on day one that she was not likely to survive, he said.

Nirbhaya was airlifted to Singapore for treatment where she succumbed to her grievous injuries.

Jain said that the only thing that could have saved her was an intestinal transplant, something which continues to be at an experimental stage even in 2020.

"She needed an intestinal transplant which is at an experimental stage in the world even in 2020. This incident happened in 2012, he said.

Jain said he had a chance to speak to one of the culprits in the case and said that just because she resisted, they were brutal to her.

These people were really brutal. I spoke to one of the culprits and he said that she abused me and resisted Nothing can justify what they did to her, he said.

Jain said being in the medical profession, they see such Nirbhayas occurring every day and opined that the media spotlight helped the case.