'Mere bete ko maaf kar do': Convict's mother begged to Nirbhaya's mother in court

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Moments before a Delhi court pronounced its verdict sensational 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case of a paramedical student-known to the world as "Nirbhaya", the mother of one of the convicts walked to Nirbhaya's mother in the courtroom and begged for his life. 

According to NDTV, the convict Mukesh Singh's mother walked up to Nirbhaya's mother, held her sari in a gesture of begging, and pleaded: "Mere bete ko maaf kar do. Main uski zindagi ki bheekh maangti hoon (Please forgive my son. I am begging you for his life)."

The Mukesh Singh's mother wept.

Nirbhaya's mother also cried and said, "I had a daughter too. What happened with her, how can I forget? I have been waiting for justice for seven years..."

The judge then issued a death warrant against all the four convicts and ordered that they will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.

Soon after the court pronounced hanging, all four convicts,  Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Kumar Singh, reportedly burst into tears.

All the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case will be executed in Jail No 3. Three of the convicts are lodged in Jail No 2, while one is in Jail No 4. Sources said the jail authorities will approach a hangman in Meerut to carry out the execution. 

Nirbhaya's grandfather at her native village bordering Bihar said, "Though late, the family has got justice."

He thanked the judiciary, saying though the court took almost seven years to complete the entire process, no one can say that he was denied a chance to be heard.

"It is a big relief for the family," he said.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being dumped on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

After the court's verdict, Nirbhaya's mother told reporters the execution of the four convicts would empower the women of the country. "This decision will strengthen the trust of people in the judicial system. January 22 will be a big day for us. My daughter has got justice," she said.