India woke up to find the country rid of 4 atrocious rapists who successfully exploited the justice system for 7 long years. At last, the law caught up to them and they were hanged to death at 5:30 a.m on 20 March.
The four death row convicts, who had fatally assaulted a 23-year-old paramedical student on the fateful night of 16 December 2012, refused to take a bath and also skipped their last meal before getting hanged.
As per Tihar jail officials, while rapists Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma had their dinner on time, which included dal, roti, rice, and sabzi, Akshay Singh Thakur and Pawan Gupta declined dinner. Although, Thakur did have tea on Thursday evening. Authorities said that the convicts were visibly anxious and were given a minute to minute update on their midnight hearing in the court.
As the time of the hanging inched closer, rapist Vinay Sharma hysterically cried on the floor, pleading for forgiveness-- not so much out of remorse but out of fear.
The convicts were hanged in the same clothes they were wearing last night, said sources.
As a last wish, Mukesh Singh wanted to donate his organs and had given it in writing to the authorities ahead of the execution. Vinay Sharma wished to give the paintings that he made in prison to the Jail Superintendent. Akshay Singh Thakur and Pawan Gupta did not have last wishes.
The four rapists were hanged at 5:30 am on Friday morning. After the execution, their bodies were taken from Tihar Jail to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital for post mortem, where the autopsy will be conducted.
The four rape convicts, aided by their lawyer, used every trick in the book to commute their hanging into a life sentence. Two more people, including a juvenile, were also involved in the crime. The main accused, Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in the jail and the juvenile, who was just a few months shy from his 18th birthday was let off after serving a light sentence of just three years. Today, he roams the streets freely despite his atrocious crime.