Justice in the case was delivered after 7 long years of fight by the victim’s parents. Nirbhaya’s mother, Asha Devi fought till the end to get justice for her daughter. All through the 7 years, she never gave up and continued her legal fight.

Here’s a timeline of Asha Devi’s relentless and determined fight that resulted in the execution of the convicts.

18-22 December, 2012: After the horrific crime committed on 16th December, Delhi Police arrested all the accused. 

29th December, 2012: After 12 days of fighting for her life, ‘Nirbhaya’ succumbed to her injuries and other medical conditions.

2nd January, 2013: Then CJI, late Altamas Kabir inaugurated a fast track court for speedy trial in sexual offence cases.

3rd January, 2013: A charge sheet was filed against five adults accused of murder, gang rape, attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences and dacoity. 

11th March, 2013: One of the accused, Ram Singh committed suicide in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

1st September, 2013: The juvenile among the 6 accused was sent to a correction home for 3 years by the Juvenile Justice Board.

10th September, 2013: All the 4 accused, Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan, were convicted by the fast track court.

13th September, 2013: The FTC awarded death penalty to all four convicts.

13th March, 2014: After the case was referred to the Delhi HC, it upheld the death penalty awarded by the trial court.

15th March, 2014: The Supreme Court put a stay on the death penalty after the convicts filed an appeal. 

3rd February, 2017: Supreme Court said that it would hear the aspect of awarding death penalty to the convicts in a fresh manner.

5th May, 2017: Supreme Court upheld the death penalty awarded to four convicts. It stated that the case falls under the ‘rarest of rare’ category.

8th November, 2017: Mukesh, one of the four death row convicts, moved SC seeking review of its verdict.

15th December, 2017: Other convicts also moved SC seeking review of their death penalties.

9th July, 2018: Supreme Court dismissed all the review pleas filed by the convicts.

February, 2019: Victim’s parents moved Delhi court in order to get a death warrant issued for the convicts. 

10th December, 2019: One of the convicts, Akshay filed a plea in SC seeking a review of his death penalty.

13th December, 2019: Nirbhaya’s mother moved SC opposing the review appeal filed by Akshay.

18th December, 2019: Akshay’s review petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

7th January, 2020: The trial court in Delhi signed the death warrants of all the 4 convicts and ordered the hanging to be taken place on 22nd January.

This followed filing of curative petitions before the SC and mercy petitions before the President by the convicts. 

17th January, 2020: After President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh, one of the convicts, trial court issued fresh death warrants for 1st February.

All the convicts filed separate curative petitions before the Supreme Court, all of which were rejected by the apex court. This was followed by a series of fresh mercy petitions before the president. After the mercy please were rejected again, trial court issued a fresh date for execution – 3rd March, 2020.

The hanging was again deferred and fresh death warrants were signed for 20th March, 2020.

16th March, 2020: Convicts move International Court of Justice, but apparently the ICJ had no jurisdiction over staying the hanging.

19th March, 2020: In an order passed at around 3:30 AM, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by the convicts for stay of execution. With all their remedies exhausted, it became clear that the convicts would be hanged on 20th March at 5:30 AM.

After the hanging, Nirbhaya’s parents said that while justice was delayed, it wasn’t denied. They also appealed to people to observe this day as the Nyay Diwas.

With these hangings, not only did Nirbhaya’s mother’s long fight and struggles came to an end, but a horrific chapter in India’s history also came to a close.