"I can finally breathe, I am relieved and we are finally at peace. Our daughter has been given justice."
This is how the mother of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, whose brutal rape on a moving bus on December 16 by six men triggered a nation wide outrage, reacted when a fast track court sentenced four men to death terming the crime as the "rarest of rare".
"It has been a difficult journey. The verdict has come. Justice has been delivered to us in true sense. We are happy with the judgement. If an appeal is filled, then also I think we will get justice," the girl's mother said at the Saket court complex here, with her husband by her side.
The fast track court, set up following the massive protest in the city, handed down death sentenced to Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh for their involvement in the rape and murder of the girl.
One of the accused Ram Singh was found hanging in his prison cell in high-security Tihar jail on March 12 while the juvenile involved in the crime was given three years' term by the Juvenile Justice Board two weeks ago.
The father of the girl, who had sold his land in his native village in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia to arrange for his daughter's education, also expressed satisfaction over the court ordering the four convicts to the gallows.
"We are happy with the decision but our fight will continue till the they are hanged. We will visit the village in Ballia on death anniversary of our daughter and form an NGO to spread awarness on rape cases," the father said.
He also thanked Delhi Police, the media and all those who sttod by them during the "difficult period".
"We have got justice. The verdict will act as a deterrent. I think nobody will dare to do this kind of act. We have full faith in the judicial system in the country," he said minutes after the fast track court pronounced the verdict.
Both the parents of the girl were present in the court room when the verdict was pronounced.
