Two of the three men who killed Delhi executive Jigisha Ghosh in 2009 were given the death penalty yesterday. The third was sentenced to life in jail. Ms Ghosh was 28 when she was kidnapped while walking to the home she lived in with her parents after an office car dropped her off from a late-night shift. The same men are accused of shooting dead TV producer Soumya Vishwanathan.For 7 long years, I have fought to get justice for my daughter. What gave me the strength? Jigisha gives me the strength. The day I saw my daughter's body, I wanted to commit suicide, but the police said you have to think of getting justice for your daughter. If you give up, who will fight for her? I've gone to court for every single hearing, in the rains, in the winter. Even when nothing has happened in court.
She was a very caring child. She knew I had diabetes, so on days when I had to take the test or go to the doctor, she would call from office and ask me about it. She wanted to know the results too. In these last seven years, I've been unwell so many times. More than financially, this has been an emotional and mental drain on us. I haven't slept properly in all these years. I just can't sleep. I still think she will call or the doorbell will ring. Somewhere I haven't been able to accept that she is really gone.
I am satisfied with the verdict. The judge himself has said that these people cannot be reformed. They are a threat to society if they are shown leniency. While giving them the death penalty, he said it was rarest of rare case. This verdict is not just for Jigisha but for every woman. I won't get my Jigisha back, but I don't ever want any mother to go through what I have.
28-year-old Jigisha Ghosh was kidnapped and killed in 2009 after she was dropped off by her office cab near her home in Vasant Vihar, Delhi
The men who killed her - seeing them was one of the toughest things to deal with in the trial. They would stand there smiling. Never once have they even said sorry for what they did. They have no remorse. Even killing someone for them is not a big deal. It's become a habit. When the accused were arrested, we requested the police to bring us face to face with the men who had robbed us of our lives. They didn't just kill Jigisha, they took our life too. One of the accused looked at me and said, "Ravi Kapoor killed her. She begged, pleaded but he didn't budge."
After killing Jigisha, they shamelessly used her card to shop. We saw the CCTV footage the police got: they were smiling. One of them was also wearing Jigisha's chain. They didn't show any hesitation, any remorse.
The accused are the same in Soumya's (Vishwanathan) case. Till the accused were not caught in Jigisha's case, Soumya's case was in cold storage. During the investigation, the police told us that they (accused) have also confessed to killing someone else. Initially we went for all the hearings in Soumya's case. Sometimes we go even now. We hope that the verdict in my daughter's case will help their case. I want to do anything we can to help them.
Look at us. We aren't really alive, we are just somehow breathing. She was our only child. And with her gone, there's really no meaning to our lives.
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