NirbhayaCase_AJudicialAndSocietalReckoning

Background & Legal ProceedingsThe Nirbhaya Case, one of the monstrous crimes ever happened to India.This specific case pertains to the 2012 gang rape and ruthless murder of a 22-year-old Jyoti Singh widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning "fearless".This heinous incident challenged the scrutiny of women's safety and legal reforms in India resulting into nationwide protest and arose a sense of worldwide resentment.On December 2012, a Judicial Committee was setup to take public suggestions that could amend laws to provide quicker investigation which resulted into 80,000 suggestions after which the committee submitted a report stating the lack of integrity by the government and the police framing as the root cause of the crimes against the woman.The perpetrators namely Ram Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh (Ram Singh's brother), Mohammad Afroz (17-Year-Old Juvenile) were convicted under Sec.120-B/365/366/376(2) (g)/377/201/395/397/412 IPC and sentenced to death by the Ld.Trial Court.Case was then referred to the Delhi High Court which upheld the guilty verdict and the death sentences.The Hon'ble Supreme Court later affirmed the conviction and confirmed the death sentence by dismissing the appeals.The four convicts Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh were executed by hanging on 20 March 2020.Accused Ram Singh committed suicide in the police custody and Mohammad Afroz (the juvenile) was given the maximum sentence of three years of imprisonment in a reform facility, as per the Juvenile Act,2012.