In the most shocking news, Supreme Court has set aside the death penalty of three convicts in the gruesome Kiran Negi gangrape and murder case and has acquitted all three of them. The rapists themselves have sought directions to reduce the sentence. The decision is receiving huge backlash from the public.
“After 11 years, this is the verdict…We have lost. I was waiting for this verdict. Now, I feel I have no reason to live. I thought my daughter would get justice,” said the mother of the victim while crying outside Supreme Court.
The bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit which also included Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice S Ravindra Bhat acquitted the convicts. As per the victim’s counsel, no reasoning was mentioned while delivering the order and the bench took only 2-3 seconds to pronounce the verdict.
In February 2014, the Delhi court convicted all the accused and awarded them the death penalty. Delhi High Court upheld the capital punishment in August 2014 while stating that they were predators moving on the streets and were looking for prey.
They challenged the Delhi High Court ruling in Supreme Court seeking directions to reduce their sentence. The counsel appearing for the convicts cited their age, family background and past criminal record to get relief.
19-year-old girl Kiran Negi was abducted on February 9, 2012 by three convicts Rahul, Ravi, and Vinod when she was with her friends. Her friend managed to escape but they abducted Kiran and gangraped her for three days.
After sexually assaulting her, they poured acid on her face and in her eyes too. They inserted screwdriver in her eyes and broken bottle pieces in her private parts. The police recovered her body on February 14 in a field of Rewari, Haryana. There were cigarette and iron rod scars on her body too.
Originally from Uttrakhand’s Pauri, she was living in Qutub Vihar in Delhi’s Chhawla area. She was pursuing her graduation and was also working as a data entry operator to support her family.
The incident took place in the same year as brutal Nirbhaya gangrape case. But the matter didn’t get enough media attention. The family has been fighting for over 10 years and this is what they got after this.
