Karat welcomes SC's Nirbhaya case verdict

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat today welcomed the Supreme Court verdict upholding the death sentence awarded to four convicts of the Nirbhaya case.
She, however, questioned the "flawed" judicial process which did not give similar punishment to those guilty in the "equally heinous" Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
"As far as the SC verdict is concerned, the CPI(M) has been demanding maximum penalty for those guilty in the Nirbhaya case. The SC has upheld the Delhi HC verdict.
"However, our principled opposition to death penalty remains," Karat said.
The CPI(M) politburo member, however, noted that the Bombay High Court, which heard the Bano case yesterday, did not find the crime "heinous enough" to award maximum penalty to the convicts.

"So, these double standards reflect flawed judicial process in our country," she said.

The SC today confirmed the death sentence awarded to the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 sensational gangrape and murder case.
It said the crime had sent a "tsunami of shock" all over and was a 'rarest of rare' case in which the most brutal, barbaric and diabolical attack was carried out on the 23- year-old woman.
The Bombay HC had yesterday upheld the conviction and life sentence to 12 people in the Bano gangrape case and set aside acquittal of seven others including policemen and doctors.

The court, however, rejected the investigating agency CBI's appeal seeking death penalty for three of the convicts.