On Wednesday, a city court Delhi has sentenced 10-year rigorous jail term to four death penalty convicts of the brutal December 16,2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of Nirbhaya in a separate robbery case that occurred on the same night.

According to the reports, the court awarded the jail term to Akshay Kumar Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma for the offences under various sections of the IPC, including sections 395 (dacoity) and 412 (dishonestly receiving stolen property knowing that it was obtained by dacoity). At the time of pronouncement of the order on sentence, it also imposed a fine of Rs 1.01 lakh each on the four convicts who were present in the court.

Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh says, “Given the nature of the offences committed by the convicts and the ramifications of the incident with the public at large, I do not agree with the submissions of the counsel for the convicts that they should be afforded any leniency be it on account of their age, their economic and social backgrounds or their family situations.”

Nirbhaya Gang Rape Convicts Awarded 10 Year Jail Term

“Any person who waits at a bus stop for transportation does so with the assurance that the buses plying on the road have complied with all statutory requirements and the persons manning them have been permitted by the appropriate government to ply buses on the road after their antecedents have been verified… It is with this assurance that any person boards a bus or any other mode of public transport,” said the judge. “Even if a bus on the road is plying with all permits and statutory compliances, but that bus by chance happens to be empty, a person will think twice before entering it, lest he may suffer the same fate as Ram Adhar. This incident shakes the confidence of the public that buses plying on the road are a safe and secure mode of transport,” he added.

Delhi Gang Rape Convicts In Robbery Case

A 15-page charge-sheet filed by the Delhi police on March 15, 2013 in the robbery case, had alleged that bus driver Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Vinay, Pawan and Akshay, along with the juvenile, had snatched 35-year-old carpenter’s mobile phone and Rs 1,500 after he boarded into the bus.

They thrashed him, tore his clothes and threw him out of the running bus at the IIT flyover. Later, they raped and brutally assaulted a 23-year-old girl in the bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012.

The court had said “It is alleged that on December 16, 2012 at about 8:45 pm at Munirka bus stand or road leading towards IIT flyover, you all (Akshay, Mukesh, Pawan and Vinay) in furtherance of your common intention along with one Ram Singh (since deceased) and one (juvenile)…kidnapped or abducted Ram Adhar (carpenter) with intent to cause Ram Adhar to be secretly and wrongfully confined and you all thereby committed an offence punishable under section 365/34 IPC and within the cognisance of this court.”