SHOCKING: Amnesty India opposes Supreme Court upholding death penalty for Nirbhaya's rapists. Here's the statement

Just over an hour after the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty awarded to the rapists in the brutal 2012 Nirbhaya rape case, human rights NGO Amnesty India has opposed the verdict.

After the apex court dismissed the review petition filed by three of the four rapists who had been given the death penalty, Amnesty India issued a tweet saying the following:

"The Supreme Court's decision to uphold death penalty for the accused in the Nirbhaya case is an unfortunate step towards the continued use of the death penalty in India."

Linked to the tweet was a post titled: "Executions Will Not Eradicate Violence Against Women"

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Here is the full statement by Amnesty India:

Executions Will Not Eradicate Violence Against Women

In response to the Supreme Court’s verdict on a review plea filed by three of the four convicts today in the 2012 Delhi bus gang-rape and murder case of a young woman, Amnesty International India’s Programmes Director, Asmita Basu said:

“Unfortunately executions do not eradicate violence against women. There is no evidence to show that the death penalty acts as a deterrent for sexual violence or any other crime. Instead, the government must allocate adequate resources for the effective implementation of laws, improve conviction rates and ensure certainty of justice in all cases. Even the Justice Verma Committee, whose recommendations were relied upon to reform laws on sexual assault and rape, had opposed imposing the death penalty in cases of rape.”

In 2017, India was one of only three countries in the world that expanded the scope of the death penalty by adopting new laws. In April 2018, the Central Government approved an ordinance introducing death penalty for those convicted of raping girls aged 12 years or younger.

“All too often lawmakers in India hold up capital punishment as a symbol of their resolve to tackle crime, and choose to ignore more difficult and effective solutions like improving investigations, prosecutions and support for victims’ families. Far-reaching procedural and institutional reforms are the need of the hour.“

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SHOCKING: After Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence, Lawyer Of Nirbhaya's Rapists Cries 'minor Convicts' And 'public Pressure'

On the other hand, moments after the verdict, Nirbhaya’s father expressed his approval and endorsed death penalty for rapists. He said,"Crimes are still on the rise as the culprits have no fear of the law". Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi also called for stricter laws vis-a-vis rape and said that it was time to make death for rapists the norm. "Rapists should not be spared," Devi said. 

Earlier, on May 4, the apex court had reserved its order on the petitions filed by Mukesh (29), Pawan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23) seeking a review of the death sentence. The fourth convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (31), however, had not filed a review petition against the order of the Supreme Court despite having been given time to do so. Another convict, prime-accused Ram Singh had allegedly committed suicide at the Tihar jail in 2013 while the case was still in the trial stage, while the sixth accused had been found to be a minor by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and was sentenced to a three-year-term at a probation home, after which he was released.

Nirbhaya Rape Case Verdict: 'We Want Rapists To Be Hung Fast' Said Nirbhaya's Parents After SC Upheld The Death Sentence Awarded To The Convicts

According to the prosecution, the 23-year-old paramedical student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya (fearless), was assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in South Delhi and thrown out with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She subsequently succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a Singapore hospital on December 29 the same year after having battled bravely, even as the country expressed a mass outpouring of shock, grief and outrage at the brutality she had been subjected to.

In September 2013, a fast-track court in South Delhi held four accused in the case guilty and pronounced the death sentence to them. The trial court then referred the case to the Delhi High Court for confirmation of their death sentence. The Supreme Court had on May 5, last year, upheld the Delhi High Court order of death penalty to the four convicts.