Moments before the four men convicted of the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young medical student - known to the world as "Nirbhaya" - were told by a judge that they would hang at 7 am on January 22, the mother of one of them begged for his life. Convict Mukesh Singh's mother walked up to Nirbhaya's mother, held her sari in a gesture of begging, and pleaded: "Mere bete ko maaf kar do. Main uski zindagi ki bheekh maangti hoon (Please forgive my son. I am begging you for his life)."
