Nirbhaya’s rapists get 10-year jail for robbery

The four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were awarded 10 years’ imprisonment in a separate robbery case by a trial court, which said the convicts deserve no leniency.

Additional sessions judge Reetesh Singh awarded the jail terms to Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Mukesh and Pawan Gupta for robbing a carpenter, Ram Adhar, in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. On the same night, the four men raped and assaulted Nirbhaya, who later succumbed to her injuries.

“Given the nature of the offences committed by the convicts and the ramifications of the incident with the public at large…the offenders should be imposed the maximum punishment…in order to ensure that just punishment is meted out,“ the judge said.

The four convicts, who were in the courtroom when the order was pronounced, appeared remorseless.

The court observed that “such incidents shake the confidence and trust of people on public transport“. “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,“ the court said.