History Today: When 4 convicts in 2012 Delhi gang rape were hanged

March 20 was a crucial day in India’s history.

It was a day when justice was delivered to a young medical student who was gang-raped and tortured on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.

On this day, in 2020, all four convicts were hanged in a pre-dawn execution simultaneously, a first in Tihar Jail’s history.

The day also witnessed India’s first non-Congress government come to power after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi lost the 1977 Lok Sabha election.

Here’s a look at these significant historical events in Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, History Today.

Justice delivered in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case

Four men convicted in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case were hanged at 5.30 am in Tihar Jail on March 20, 2020.

This came hours after the Supreme Court, in a midnight hearing, refused to grant them relief and stay their executions.

The four men – Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh – were declared dead at around 6 am.

“A doctor has examined them and declared all four dead,” Director General of Tihar Jail Sandeep Goel had said.

The crime took place on December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old medical student boarded a bus in Delhi along with her male friend. On board the bus, the woman and her friend were assaulted by a group of six people. The woman died two weeks later.

The horrific crime shook the country and triggered nationwide protests, eventually forcing the government to set up a commission to review the laws on rape and crimes against women. The development ultimately led to laws prescribing stricter punishments to the culprits of crimes against women.

Of the six, one was a juvenile and was convicted by the juvenile justice board. He served three years in a reformation home and was released. The other one committed suicide in jail.

In the last 24 hours, some of the four convicts again moved to various courts seeking relief from the death penalty.

However, all the courts, including the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, refused to intervene and stay the executions.

Indira Gandhi lost the 1977 Lok Sabha election

The sixth Lok Sabha election brought India’s first non-Congress government to power.

Former PM Indira Gandhi’s popularity dropped significantly after the 1971 war due to her disqualification post-1971 election, the students’ movement in Gujarat and Jayaprakash Narayan’s call for Total Revolution in March 1974.

When her election victory was declared invalid by the Allahabad High Court in July 1975 due to electoral malpractice, Gandhi retaliated by declaring an Emergency in 1975, using dictatorial powers to imprison key opposition figures like Morarji Desai and Narayan.

Between 1975 and 1977, a large number of leaders and activists were detained and imprisoned. The state of emergency also imposed limits on press freedom and civil liberties.

However, Gandhi’s call for a new election in March 1977 put an end to the Emergency’s misery. She had also ordered the release of other opposition leaders.

The Janata Party was founded following the Emergency, with Charan Singh serving as its deputy and Morarji Desai as its chairman.

The Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, Congress (O), and Socialist Party were among the groups that jointly established the party.

Voting for the new elections was held from March 16–20, 1977, and counting started right away.

Indira Gandhi suffered a crushing defeat with 298 seats from the Janata alliance. Only 154 seats were won by the Congress, 22 by the CPI (MP), and 7 by the CPI.

On March 24, 1977, 81-year-old Desai, who had resigned from Gandhi’s administration on July 16, 1969, as Deputy PM, took the oath of office as Prime Minister.

Japan subway attack

It was a morning rush hour on March 20, 1995, when millions of commuters were heading to the Tokyo subway, one of the world’s busiest underground systems.

On the day, five men, members of the Aum cult group, one on each train, dropped bags of sarin on the floor and pierced them with umbrellas.

The assailants quickly disembarked but the carriages filled with deadly fumes as the trains drove on.

Passengers first noticed a smell that irritated their eyes and nose. Then they began to gasp for air and some collapsed, convulsing or foaming at the mouth.

The attack killed 13 people and injured more than 5,800 others. A 14th victim, who suffered brain damage, died in 2020.

Aum’s leader Shoko Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto, was executed for the attack in 2018 along with 12 disciples.

He had reportedly preached that the apocalypse was coming and that murders could elevate souls to a higher realm. Disaffected young people in Japan, including doctors and engineers who later manufactured toxins, took solace in doctrines.

At the height of its influence, the cult counted more than 10,000 followers, mostly in Japan but also in Russia, the United States and elsewhere.

Aum has since disbanded, but its hanged guru is still worshipped in Japan by an estimated 1,600 members of successor groups.

Experts warn that the groups are reaching young recruits in secret both in person and through social media and messaging apps, where they are also spreading posts saying that Aum’s crimes were misportrayed.