SC refuses to interfere with findings in its main verdict in Dec-16 gang rape case

The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with its main verdict in the sensational December 16, 2012 gangrape-and-murder of a 3-year-old woman, in which it had said that such "brutal, barbaric and diabolic nature" of a crime could create a "tsunami of shock" and destroy a civilised society.

The Supreme Court today delivered its much-awaited decision on the review petitions of the death row convicts -- Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25) -- who had approached it against its
"It is apt to state here that in the said case, stress was laid on certain aspects, namely, the manner of commission of the murder, the motive for commission of the murder, anti- social or socially abhorrent nature of the crime, magnitude of the crime and personality of the victim of murder."
It had said the medical records had demonstrated that the entire intestine of the victim was "perforated and splayed open due to the repeated insertion of the rod and hands and the appellants had pulled out the internal organs of the prosecutrix in the most savage and inhuman manner that caused grave injuries which ultimately annihilated her life."
Justice R Banumathi, in her separate verdict, had said the rising crimes against the woman was an "area of concern" as "over the past few decades, legal advancements and policy reforms have done much to protect women from all sources of violence and also to sensitise the public on the issue of protection of women and gender justice. Still, the crimes against women are on the increase."
The fervent plea of the accused to discredit the veracity of three dying declarations of the victim was also trashed by the bench which had said that they "do withstand close scrutiny and they are consistent with each other."