As the nation watched the Supreme Court deliver a landmark judgement in the Nirbhaya case, upholding the death penalty to the four convicts, the family of one of the four convicts – Akshay, said that he deserved the death sentence.
“We have ended our relationship with him; Akshay is no more our family member; we have nothing to do with him,” a close family member told IANS over telephone from Lahang Karma village in Aurangabad district, about 150 km from Patna.
“Please, we do not want to talk about him, he is our past, not present,” said another family member, as most of the family members of Akshay termed the apex court's decision “right”.
People in his village refused to talk about him as he brought disrepute to the village. “Our village was defamed due to Akshay's involvement in the infamous case. We don't want to discuss anything to defame our village any further,” Satender Kumar Singh, a villager said.
However, according to a neighbour of Akshay’s family, the entire family and some relatives were glued to the television set on Friday, “hoping against all hope that the apex court would overturn the death penalty.”
“They were hopeful against all hope for some relief. It proved useless as Akshay's fate was sealed the day he was convicted. The apex court only upheld it,” a villager said.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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