The mother of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, who was gangraped on a moving bus in the national capital on December 16, 2012, wants the four convicts in the case to be hanged. Her daughter, who died two weeks after the assault at a hospital in Singapore, became the rallying symbol for fierce public protests across the country demanding stricter punishment for those accused of rape and sexual harassment. The plea by the four convicts in the gangrape case against the death sentence awarded to them by a trial court comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court today. The trial court's death sentence was upheld by the Delhi High Court too. “The court must sentence them to death. We won’t settle for life imprisonment. I am alive and kept myself strong only to see this day,” the mother told the Hindustan Times newspaper. While six men were involved in the incident in 2012, one of the convicts, Ram Singh, was found dead in Tihar Jail and a juvenile sentenced to three years in a juvenile home. The juvenile was later released from custody. The four remaining convicts are Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh. The mother of the gangrape victim also told news agency ANI that she had full faith in the judiciary and that the top court would set an example for the world. "We have full faith in the judicial system and I am sure that the Supreme Court will announce death sentence in its verdict for the guilty. I am sure the Supreme Court will give justice to my daughter. This will set an example for the world," the mother told news agency ANI. The Delhi Police has also sought death penalty for all the four convicts in the case arguing that it fell into the 'rarest of rare' cases. However, the defence lawyer has asked for a reduced sentence in view of the convicts' poor background and young age. The public protests, fuelled by the case, also forced Parliament to deliberate and pass a stricter legislation against sexual harassment. A rise in the number of rape cases registered at police stations across the country was also noted in the aftermath of the case.
