The tweet of senior advocate Indira Jaising in which she urged Nirbhaya’s mother to “follow the example” of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, suggesting that she should pardon the four men sentenced to death for raping-killing her daughter in 2012 has not gone down well with Nirbhaya’s father.
Slamming Jaising, he said she should be “ashamed” of suggesting pardon and added that his family isn’t as “large-hearted” as Sonia Gandhi. Also, he demanded an apology from Jaising, who is known for her stand against capital punishment.
“We have been fighting the case for seven years. We are common people and not politicians. Such mentality is responsible for the rising number of rapes,” he added.
Nirbhaya’s father said his wife held similar views. He said they had seen Jaising in court but never interacted with her.
“Why did she have to say something and face insult when she has nothing to do with the case,” he asked.
In a tweet on Friday, Jaising said while she empathises with the pain of Nirbhaya’s mother, she urged her “to follow the example of Sonia who forgave Nalini and said she didn’t not (did not) want the death penalty for her”. “We are with you but against death penalty,” she said. Nalini Sriharan was sentenced to death in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case. Her death penalty was commuted to life term after the intervention of Sonia, who urged for clemency on account of the fact that Nalini had a young daughter who was born in jail.
Nirbhaya’s father said this is a “wrong message”. “She (Indira Jaising) is a woman herself. She should be ashamed of her comments and apologise to Nirbhaya’s mother,” he told PTI. “
On Friday, a Delhi court issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan (25) -- in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.
Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh.
Nirbhaya’s father said he is hopeful of justice finally being delivered. A 23-year-old paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya (fearless), was gangraped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons, including the four death row convicts, before being thrown out on the road.
She succumbed to her injuries a fortnight later at a hospital in Singapore.