It was cheers, applause and a sigh of relief as the court today pronounced sentencing in the December 16 gangrape and murder case amid tight security both inside and outside the Saket court complex.
As soon as the four convicts were handed death sentence at 2:30 pm, journalists, advocates and other public persons, who had gathered outside the courtroom, cheered and clapped.
"It's death. It's death. They deserve it," said a woman who is employed in the court complex.
The police had made strict security arrangements apprehending trouble or protests and there was a posse of police outside the courtroom since morning.
The road outside the court complex was closed to traffic and barricaded. Mounted police could also be seen outside.
Inside the court complex, the police personnel videographed the scene right outside the courtroom, which was not open to public.
Representatives from print media were allowed inside only minutes before the verdict was to be pronounced.
The accused were brought in after the lunch hour at 2:10 pm.
Large number of mediapersons from print, electronic and online media and also foreign publications thronged the corridor outside the courtroom since morning.
The post-lunch work at the Saket Court had come to a standstill with court staff members and litigants eagerly waiting for the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence.
The corridors of six-storeyed court building was crowded with people who had also lined the galleries on all the floors.
There was a heavy deployment of security in and outside the court complex since morning and only two gates were kept open.
Groups of people had assembled outside the court complex to know about the verdict and as soon as the order was delivered, they started raising slogans that the juvenile convicted in the case by the Juvenile Justice Board, should also be hanged.
"Juvenile ko bhi phansi do (Give death penalty also to the juvenile," was the slogan raised by people.
