Court issuing death warrants in Nirbhaya case victory of Delhi police: Neeraj Kumar

Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Tuesday said a Delhi court issuing death warrant against four convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case was the victory of the legal system and Delhi police.

Kumar, who was Delhi police commissioner when the brutal incident occurred, told that it was a blind case in the beginning.

"There is no doubt that this is the victory of the country. This is the victory of our legal system, of Delhi Police and of my team. What was more difficult for us was that we had to work out the case immediately. It was a blind case in the beginning," he said.

"We collected information about the bus in which crime took place and after tracing the bus, the driver was caught. And after that the remaining accused were caught," he added.

The former top cop said he is satisfied that he took all the pressure upon himself so that his team remains free to work.

"The first was nabbing the accused, second was collecting evidence which would be accepted by the court. That was a difficult process. There was a public uproar, political pressure, media pressure and I am satisfied that I took all these pressures on me so that my team remained free to work," he said.

"If I would not have taken that pressure, my team would have to handle it and my team would have been distracted from work. So, it was teamwork. And I am happy that we were successful," he said.

Earlier in the day, Delhi's Patiala House court ordered that all four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case will be hanged on January 22.

The convicts - Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh - will be hanged at 7 am.

Additional Session Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued the death warrant in the presence of all convicts who were produced before the court through video conferencing.

The court said that convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days.

( With inputs from ANI )