NEW DELHI: The parents of Soumya Vishwanathan said on Wednesday that they were satisfied with the conviction of her killers 15 years after a protracted legal battle, but the emptiness in their life can never be filled. “Our daughter has already gone but I’m happy this conviction will certainly act as a deterrent for others,” Soumya’s mother Madhavi Vishwanathan said after the verdict was delivered.
When Additional Session Judge Ravinder Kumar Pandey at the Saket Court began reading the order, Madhavi, who looked nervous, held her hands firmly and later heaved a sigh of relief as the verdict was in their favour. “Had this conviction not been done, these accused people would have got more courage.
At least one section of the gang will be out of this,” she told reporters outside the courtroom. When asked about the punishment that she is expecting for the convicts, she said, “They should at least get life imprisonment.” Soumya’s father MK Vishwanathan said he was satisfied with the verdict, but felt unhappy as he missed his daughter.
“There’s no happiness... I will never get my daughter back,” he said. The then DCP (south) HGS Dhaliwal, now posted as a special commissioner of police), who had probed Soumya’s murder and nabbed the criminals, was also present at the court and hugged Soumya’s mother after the verdict was delivered.
“I am very happy and satisfied that the family had so much faith in our team that they attended our every meeting -- we had a review meeting every single day from September 30th till the time it was not worked out,” Dhaliwal said.
