Death sentence for convicts is a closure: Doctor who first attended Nirbhaya

The sentence is a kind of closure for me too as there has not been a single moment I am not haunted by painful memories of what that woman went through, says Vipul Kandwal.
Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts (clockwise from top left) Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh. (File | PTI)
Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts (clockwise from top left) Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh. (File | PTI)

DEHRADUN: As death warrant for brutal gangrape and murder of a woman in December 2012 in Delhi was issued on Tuesday, Vipul Kandawl a surgeon based in Dehradun who was one of the first to attend her in Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi found a sense of closure.

"The sentence is a kind of closure for me too as there has not been a single moment I am not haunted by painful memories of what that woman went through," said Kandwal. 

The woman was named 'Nirbhaya' given her indomitable spirit and willingness to live and fight further. 

A Delhi court on Tuesday issued a death warrant against all four death row convicts in the case. The execution has been scheduled on January 22 at 7 am which will take place in jail number 3 at Tihar prison in Delhi. 

Kandwal was on his night duty in December 2012 in Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. That is when an ambulance brought a young woman who was brutally assaulted whom he attended. 

As he proceeded to examine the victim of gangrape and assault, a chill ran down his spine. 

"I still shudder at the memory of that night. It was difficult for me to believe what was done to her. The bleeding refused to stop despite my efforts and I informed my seniors immediately," recalls Kandwal who runs a hospital in Dehradun now. 

He was one of the first doctors to attend Nirbhaya when she was rushed to hospital after the brutal sexual and physical assault. 

"I tried my best to surgically stop the bleeding but the winds inflicted were so serious that it was almost impossible. I haven't seen anything like that in my whole career," added the bariatric surgeon. 

He further adds that it was not unusual for him to face the cases involving sexual and physical assault.

The surgeon was in the panel of doctors which was formed to treat the woman who later succumbed to her injuries in Singapore.

"We all wanted to save Nirbhaya at any cost. It felt like a punch in the stomach not being able to do that despite all our efforts, " said Kandwal. 

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