Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his government has recommended the President to not show any leniency to the culprits in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.
Following the recommendation, Kejriwal told reporters that his government believes that culprits should get such stringent punishments that people think 10 times before committing such crimes.
Speaking on rising crimes against women in the country, Kejriwal said “it is a failure of law and order, and enforcement”. “I believe the society should introspect from within,” he added.
The Delhi government on Sunday “strongly recommended” the rejection of the mercy petition filed by one of the convicts of the 2012 Nirbhaya murder case.
In the recommendation, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain said this was the case where exemplary punishment should be given to deter others from committing such atrocious crimes.
The petition was forwarded to the city government after the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court rejected it, saying “he does not deserve any mercy”.
The file will go to Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and later to the Union Home Ministry.
A 23-year-old woman was gangraped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail. Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petition in July 2018.
Victim’s mother Asha Devi on Monday welcomed Delhi government’s decision to recommend rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case. She also expressed hope that the accused will be hanged to death soon.