Death penalty to Nirbhaya convicts would play as deterrent: Congress

The Congress has expressed satisfaction over the four men, convicted in Nirbhaya rape and murder case, getting hanged to death. Party spokesperson Ranjeet Ranjan hoped that the death penalty would work as a deterrent for such crimes in future.

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday welcomed the execution of four men, convicted of the gang rape and murder of a Delhi woman on December 16, 2012, hoping it would serve as a deterrent for such crimes in the future.

"It's a message for criminals and they would certainly apply their minds before committing such heinous crimes," Ranjeeta Ranjan, national spokesperson of the Congress told ETV Bharat here.

She said the related laws should be strengthened more to fast track cases involving rape and other heinous crimes so that criminals are punished without any delay.

"It's the law that has got justice today as the Nirbhaya's rapists got hanged," she said, adding that the young woman, who was brutally raped and killed, would not be brought back by their death penalty, so, it's justice served to the law.

The Congress former MP also stressed that other similar cases be fast-tracked so that justice is delivered.

Earlier in the day, the four convicted in Nirbhaya case - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) were executed at 5.30 am for the savage assault in an empty moving bus on the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern.

This was the first time that four men have been hanged together in Tihar Jail. The executions were carried out after the men exhausted every possible legal avenue to escape the gallows.