"Huge Blow": Delhi Rape-Murder Victim's Parents After Court Frees Accused

The Supreme Court's decision today to free three men convicted of rape and murder of a 19-year-old Delhi woman in 2012 has left the victim's parents in a state of shock. Saying that the top court's verdict had dealt a crushing blow, they resolved to continue with their fight for justice.

Speaking to NDTV today, the victim's father said: "This is a huge blow to us. We had come here [Supreme Court] with the hope of getting justice and we had faith in the court, but we didn't get justice."

"If this is what the law does, then how can one have faith in the legal system," he asked. He said lack of justice will only lead to more crimes.

The victim's mother rued the fact that the Supreme Court accepted the argument on behalf of the accused as the truth. She said she and her family will keep fighting for justice.

"We had come to the Supreme Court with a lot of hope, but we are completely broken. The Supreme Court has let us down," she told NDTV.

"Even after 11 years, this is the verdict. We lost the battle. I have lost my will to live. I thought my daughter would get justice," the victim's mother added.

The lawyer for the victim's family said a review petition will be filed once the details of the court order are made available. Speaking to NDTV, she added: "I was surprised that while pronouncing the verdict, there was no mention of the basis for the court order."

"The Supreme Court verdict has come today - which is also the Chief Justice's last day in office - after seven years of court proceedings and that too only after I raised it last Friday that this should be announced after the one on EWS [reservations for economically weaker sections]," she said.

In February 2012, the victim's mutilated and burnt body was found in a field in Haryana's Rewari district, days after she was kidnapped.

Ravi Kumar, Rahul and Vinod were convicted by a Delhi court in February 2014 under various charges including kidnapping, rape and murder. The court sentenced them to death, which was upheld by the Delhi High Court.

However, a Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice of India, Justice UU Lalit, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi today cancelled the High Court ruling and ordered that all three accused would be freed.

The victim's father said that while he and his family were torn apart in 2012 itself, when his daughter was killed, today's verdict came as a fresh blow. He alleged the "legal system is blind".

The Delhi High Court had even described the three accused men as "predators" trawling the streets for "prey".

There were times when the accused would reportedly laugh at the victim's parents and even threaten to kill them while they attended court hearings.

"The law and order system in our country is not for poor people. If this had happened with a rich influential person or a politician, would they also have faced the same fate like us? It's like taking advantage of poverty," the victim's father said.

Recounting their horrific experience all through the trial, the father said: "The judges of the Supreme Court never even bothered to ask us what we were going through. Treating this case just as any other normal one, they let the accused walk free."

He said the ordeal that he and his family had to endure for the last 11 years was completely ignored by the Supreme Court judges in announcing the verdict.