Nirbhaya's family happy, convict's wife in tears as court dismisses plea on stay of death penalty

The trial court's Thursday order dismissing a plea to stay the execution of death penalty of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case brought some relief to the victim's family members, and tears for the condemned prisoners' kin.

Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi applauded the order and said her daughter's soul will now rest in peace after tomorrow's hanging of the convicts in the gruesome gang rape and murder case that shook the nation.

"I am happy. I got justice seven years after the crime with my daughter. Finally the convicts will be hanged. Now I will get peace," she said.

On the other hand, the wife of Akshay Kumar, one of the four death-row convicts in the case, who has filed for divorce, fainted outside the Patiala House court here and said she and her minor son be hanged too.

Kumar's wife filed a divorce petition before a Bihar family court recently, saying she did not wish to live with the label of "a rapist's widow".

"I want justice too. Kill me too. I do not want to live. My husband is innocent. Why is the society after us? We were living with the hope that we will get justice but we are being killed everyday for the last seven years," she said while crying hysterically outside the court.

She beat herself with sandals and was consoled by the lawyers present outside the court.

However, the counsel for the victim's parents Jitendra Jha said the convict did not deserve any leniency though his wife deserves sympathy.

"Akshay was a member of our society. Everybody is pained by unnatural deaths, but Akshay does not deserve any leniency. His wife was not part of the crime. She will be losing her husband and I have sympathy for her," he said.

Akshay's wife, who had also brought her eight-year old son, pleaded to the judge that justice was being denied to her.

"Hang me and my son too. How will we live like this?" she said.

To this the judge asked her to put her concerns before Akshay's counsel.

"I want justice too. Think about me and my son too," she said.

To this the judge said, "There is Nirbhaya's mother. You tell this to her," and dismissed the order.

After the pronouncement of the order, Devi was escorted out of the courtrooms by four women police officers and her lawyers.