Ordinary men who crossed over to dark side

Sakshi Chand & Somreet Bhattacharya TNN

New Delhi  21.03.2020

: They were ordinary men, and like everyone had their own traits, some likeable, some unpleasant. Each had a different job, at least four of them: a fitness instructor who loved dancing, bus driver, the driver’s assistant, or ‘cleaner’, and a fruit vendor. The fifth was mostly unemployed but helped clean the bus occasionally and the sixth was an underaged boy who sometimes assisted the bus driver. None had a crime history to speak of. Until a joyride in a bus brought out the demon in them.

Ram Singh, a bus driver, and Mukesh Singh were brothers with a local reputation as toughies who regularly got into fights with neighbours and shopkeepers at Ramdass Camp in south Delhi’s RK Puram. The siblings mostly lived by themselves but were visited once in a while by their parents. It was in Ram Singh’s bus that the six picked up Nirbhaya and her friend on December 16, 2012 from Munirka. The bus driver and his assistant, Akshay Thakur, took turns at the steering wheel as the six ravaged the physiotherapy intern.

Ram Devi, the Singhs’ neighbour, remembered, “The brothers never talked with anyone. There was something strange about their behaviour. If they talked, it was always to argue. They were not kind men.” According to the locals, the mother visited the house once in a while, but she too seldom had conversations, just sat outside the house and smoked a hookah by herself.

Full report on www.toi.in

IN GRIEF: Relatives mourn as the ambulance carrying bodies of Nirbhaya convicts Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma arrive at Ravidass camp in New Delhi on Friday

Cheers at dawn outside Tihar as justice prevails after 7 years

Sakshi.Chand@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  21.03.2020

: Tihar Central Jail is usually devoid of excitement most mornings. But the facility in west Delhi was abuzz with activity before sunrise on Friday. People from all walks of life, of all ages, congregated there to witness what they called ‘a historic moment’. When the news reached the crowd that the brutal rapists of Nirbhaya were dead, everyone clapped and shouted exultantly while passing out sweets.

Slogans of “Asha Devi zindabad” rent the air, both in solidarity with the mother of Nirbhaya and in admiration for her never-say-die spirit through the seven harsh years. In the crowd were media people with their tripods and cameras, especially at Gate 3. The people started a countdown to 5.30am, the time appointed for the hanging of Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta. Awaiting the hour, they chanted “Bharat mata ki jai” and “Vande Mataram”, taking the event as an assertion of national good over evil. In between, one could hear “AP Singh murdabad”, the lawyer of the four death row convict being demonised for legal shenanigans that caused numerous postponements of the hanging.

At Gate 3 was nine-year-old Janisha. Her father, Simranjeet Singh, said, “I share everything with my daughter. In schools these days, children are educated about good and bad touches. I thought if I told my daughter about what was happening here today, it would make an impression on her.” Janisha had learnt enough to answer “hanging” when asked what was going on.

Full report on www.toi.in

Doctors remember Nirbhaya as ‘brave’

New Delhi  21.03.2020

: Doctors at Safdarjung Hospital who treated Nirbhaya in 2012 remembered her as a “brave woman” and said with the hanging of the four convicts, law had taken its course.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital before being airlifted to Singapore for treatment where she later died.

Dr B D Athani, who was the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital when Nirbhaya was treated, said they have got “closure”. “I was involved in the medical management part of it. It was a very heinous crime that they committed. Law has taken its course. We had referred the patient to Singapore. We have got closure as far as this patient is concerned,” he said. Athani said they were under immense pressure at that time and despite that “medically, the case withstood scrutiny”.

Another doctor on duty that day remembers, “She was a very, very brave woman. She was so calm and composed even after going through so much trauma.” PTI

Dr B D Athani, who was the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital when Nirbhaya was treated, said they have got “closure”

For first time in my life, I’m happy to execute convicts: Jallad

TNN & AGENCIES

New Delhi/Meerut 21.03.2020

: Pawan Jallad, 57, has become the only hangman in the history of the country to execute four convicts in one go. Incidentally, these were his maiden executions. Pawan, a fourth-generation hangman from Meerut, missed an “opportunity” four years ago when high court commuted Surinder Koli’s death sentence to life imprisonment in the Nithari case.

Following the hanging of four Nirbhaya convicts in Tihar Jail at dawn on Friday, Pawan said, “For the first time in my life, I’m happy to execute four convicts. I had been waiting for this day for long. I thank God and the Tihar Jail administration.”

The hanging, which was scheduled to take place on January 22, was deferred multiple times before it finally took place on March 20. According to UP jail officials in Meerut, a team from Tihar Jail administration had come down to the district on March 17 to take Pawan to Delhi for the preparations of the hanging.

Prison authorities in Uttar Pradesh have two hangmen, one in Meerut and the other in Lucknow, on retainership basis. Tihar administration had earlier this year written to UP jail administration requesting services of a hangman. Pawan, who gets a monthly stipend of ₹5,000, was chosen for the job.

He has never imagined being anything else and has wanted to be a hangman since he was a child. Pawan has witnessed hanging since he was an adolescent.

Full report on www.toi.in

‘Looking at her pic, telling her she’s finally got justice’

Still Haunted By Her Last Words: Nirbhaya’s Mom

Pankhuri.Yadav & Prem Bisht TNN

New Delhi  21.03.2020

: “I don’t remember the last time we were happy,” said Nirbhaya’s mother, Asha Devi, seven years after her daughter was raped and brutalised in a moving bus. When Nirbhaya was alive, she never had a home that was spacious or equipped with an oven and geyser. Her family’s house in Dwarka now is. “Yet where’s the happiness?” her mother constantly asked.

On Friday, Devi was less diffident. It was a day when her long struggle resulted in the ultimate punishment for her daughter’s assaulters. “She got justice today. Through the day I have been looking at her photo and telling her she got justice,” Devi said. And yet the hanging of the four of the six accused does not leave Devi entirely fulfilled. For she is still haunted by the last words of Nirbhaya. “My daughter was very strong but she was defeated and with her last strength, she asked me to get her justice,” Devi remembered.

People thronged the Dwarka house on Friday to congratulate the family. What remains to be done now that the men have been hanged? “I don’t plan to join politics. Instead I will never stop helping rape victims and their families,” Devi promised. “I will continue to put up a fight for all the daughters just as I did for my own daughter.”

It took Devi seven years to finally get some mental respite. Born and raised in a small village in eastern UP, she grew up on stories of violence and rape, but never imagined her own family would suffer the nightmare. When she married Badrinath Singh Pandey in 1985, she had dreams of a happy future as a family. The couple moved to Delhi, where Nirbhaya was born.

“Her father was so happy that he distributed sweets worth ₹1,000 even when neighbours passed snide remarks about the birth of a girl,” the pugnacious mother recalled. “She was the brightest girl in her class and so we tried to give her the best education, hoping she would have a better life than us. And she always offered a helping hand to the needy.” And yet, Devi chokes, Nirbhaya’s life ended not in goodness but in pain. Nirbhaya and her two siblings grew up in a two-room house in Dwarka’s Sector 8. This was the house she was returning to after watching her first English film, Life of Pi, at Select Citywalk Mall in south Delhi’s Saket with a friend on December 16, 2012, when the horrific incident took place. Now the family lives a few kilometres away.

One of Nirbhaya’s brothers is now a pilot based in Bengaluru. He was counselled by Rahul Gandhi after his sister’s death and was later sent to Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Akademi in Rae Bareli for training. Devi shies from talking about the other son. The family didn’t know an iota about the litigation process and was shocked to find the convicts could take resort to so many legal remedies. “One delay after another left us increasingly distraught,” the mother mumbled. “But I kept faith that the convicts would eventually be hanged.”

She is grateful for how people stood solidly behind the family. “When Nirbhaya was in the hospital, I didn’t realise how the people were reacting outside. But a day before we left for Singapore for her treatment, a doctor took me outside to see the hundreds who had gathered in our support. I was touched,” she smiled wanly.

SOME CLOSURE: People thronged Nirbhaya’s family house in Dwarka to congratulate Asha Devi and her husband

TN grants monthly stipend of ₹3,000 to young advocates

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.03.2020

Soon, young advocates in the state would receive a monthly stipend of ₹3,000 for a period of two years. It was a long pending demand of the legal fraternity. Making the announcement in the state assembly on Friday, minister for law, courts and prisons C Ve Shanmugam said the government would also enhance the advocates’ clerks welfare fund from ₹2 lakh to ₹4 lakh.

The government would procure 60 Apple i-pads Pro along with cover and stylus for use by judges of Madras high court and its Madurai bench at a cost of ₹80.93 lakh.

"Additional classrooms will be constructed in government law colleges in Trichy and Chengalpet at a cost of ₹11.71 crore," he said. The government law colleges in Vellore and Ramnad districts would offer postgraduate courses from the coming academic year and ₹50 lakh would be allocated for it.

Besides, the government would take up the conservation and restoration of heritage buildings at the district munsif-cum-judicial magistrate court at Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district and district munsif court in Coimbatore, which is famously known as Kuthira Vandi (horse cart) court, at a cost of ₹10 crore.

Digital signage display system would be installed in 260 court complexes (each two) in the state at a cost of ₹10.26 crore, said the minister. The government would constitute 14 additional courts in various districts, he announced. The government has been improving the infrastructure and appointing judges and public prosecutors after getting the draft notification from the HC to bring down pendency of cases.

Earlier, MLA C V M P Ezhilarasaon of DMK said the government should extend the working hours of the judiciary to bring down pendency of cases.

Buses, metro rail won’t run on Sunday: EPS

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.03.2020

An hour after attending a video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday announced that state transport corporation fleet and metro rail will not be operated on Sunday between 7am and 9pm --when ‘Janata curfew’ is in place.

In a press statement, the chief minister said the private buses and small bus operators should extend full cooperation to the government. “As told by the Prime Minister, people should express their gratitude at 5pm on Sunday to all those personnel who work with a sense of commitment and without being selfish,” Palaniswami said, requesting all to extend support to his government’s measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. The chief minister also said all public and private libraries will be shut down until March 31.

The video conference that went close to two hours saw the chief ministers of six states, including Kerala and Maharashtra interacting with the Prime Minister. Sources said the others, including TN chief minister, were told to communicate in writing to the PMO the suggestions to combat the spread of outbreak. “The PM gave Pan-India instructions to the chief ministers. The foremost is about social distancing to fight the virus and advised the states to fight it out with legal backing,” said a source.

Apparently, Modi had pointed to the exponential growth of imported disease in US and UAE and insisted the state governments to take intensive measures to contain the outbreak. He also had suggested that the services of retired army medical personnel could be availed.

Citing the nine keys instructions of the Prime Minister in video conference – which was also addressed by him to the nation on Thursday, Palaniswami said that people should not go out of homes other than reasons which are necessary. Citizens aged 60 years and above should not step out. The chief minister encouraged the people to come forward and observe ‘Janata curfew’ that would be in place on Sunday between 7am and 9pm. “At 5pm on Sunday, people should go out and clap as a mark of gratitude to doctors, paramedics, health workers, civic staff, army, airport and other departmental staff. Put off plans as much as possible the appointments for surgeries, and visits to the hospitals,” the CM said.