Asha Devi, mother of the 23-year-old medical student who was raped and fatally injured by four men on a bus in Delhi in 2012 triggering an unprecedented outpouring of public anger, has hit out at senior lawyer Indira Jaising for requesting her to "forgive" the convicts and stop their execution.
"Can't believe how Indira Jaising even dared to suggest such this. I met her many times over the years in Supreme Court, not once did she ask for my wellbeing and today she is speaking for convicts. Such people make a living by supporting rapists, hence rape incidents don't stop," Asha Devi told news agency ANI.
"Who is Indira Jaising to give me such a suggestion? Whole country wants the convicts to be executed. Just because of people like her, justice is not done with rape victims," she added.
On Friday, Indira Jaising had requested Asha Devi to follow the example of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had moved for the clemency of a woman Nalini Murugan convicted for the assassination of her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"While I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she didn't not want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against death penalty," Ms Jaising had tweeted.
Asha Devi has criticised the delay in the execution of the four men convicted of the rape and murder of her daughter, saying that the case was being used for political mileage.
A Delhi court had on Friday said the four convicts - Mukesh, 32, Vinay Sharma, 26, Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, and Pawan Gupta, 25 - will hang on February 1 at 6 am. The execution had earlier been scheduled for January 22 but was delayed over a mercy petition filed by one of them.
The 2012 attack on the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" or "fearless', had shocked India and triggered widespread protests.
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