Delhi gangrape: The drama inside and outside the Saket court

Three minutes was all it took for additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna to read out the sentence in one of the most keenly observed criminal cases in Indian history. On Wednesday, the court had judged that the four were guilty of the crime. The way the 23-year-old girl was gangraped and brutally beaten, showed that the four convicts had no other intention but to kill her, the judge observed. During the arguments for sentencing, he also said that the crime has shaken the collective conscience of the nation. On Friday, there were a large number of media personnel present on the stretch of road outside the court complex, awaiting the announcement at 2:30 pm. By 2pm, a crowd of more than 100 people consisting of media personnel, policemen, lawyers and court staff gathered outside court no 304 on third floor of Saket court complex. Around 2:15 pm, all four convicts were taken inside the court room amidst tight security. At exactly 2.30 pm, the judge began reading out the fate of four convicts who were found guilty under 13 charges including rape and murder. What came as a surprise for those inside the court room was that the judge skipped his observation on other charges and came directly to the penalty under section 302 of Indian Penal Code.   [caption id=“attachment_1107703” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The scene outside the Saket court. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost[/caption] The judge said that the crime fell in the ‘rarest of the rare’ category and then awarded the death penalty to all four convicts. “The court cannot turn blind eye. There will be no tolerance in a crime of such nature,” ruled the judge. Before the judge could leave for his chamber, lawyer AP Singh, counsel for two of the convicts, got upset and registered his protest immediately. According to one of the reporters present in the court, he said, “This is not a fair verdict. You doing it under pressure.” One of the convicts, Vinay Sharma, buckled and burst into tears, another convict, Mukesh Singh, looked confused even as the chaos broke out in the courtroom. “We can heave a sigh of relief now. We thank the police. They did a good job,” the mother of the girl told reporters inside the court room. As news of the sentence was received outside the court room, many of those waiting burst into applause and flashing the victory sign. Lawyers present in the court shared the news with other on their phones. Among those outside the court compound were groups of people who were chanting slogans against the four convicts in the case.  All of them cheered once they learnt of the verdict. “We are happy with the judgment. Our demand is that all the higher courts should also give death sentence whenever they hear this case,” Smita Sinha, a member of the All India Mahila Sanskriti Sangathan said. However, for some of them this isn’t closure just yet. “This is the beginning. We have to ensure safety for all women,” Manoj Yadav, who is with the All India Democratic Youth Organisation, said.