Advocate Jaising should be ashamed: Nirbhaya's father

New Delhi : Nirbhaya's father on Saturday said senior lawyer Indira Jaising should be "ashamed" of suggesting pardon for the four death row convicts in his daughter's gangrape case and said his family isn't as "large-hearted" as Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

He also demanded an apology from Jaising, who is known for her stand against capital punishment. In a tweet on Friday, Jaising said while she fully identifies with the pain of Nirbhaya's mother, she urges her "to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she didn't not (did not) want the death penalty for her". "We are with you but against death penalty," she said.

Nalini Sriharan was sentenced to death in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case. Her death penalty was commuted to life term after the intervention of his wife Sonia Gandhi, who urged for clemency on account of the fact that Nalini had a young daughter who was born in jail. Nirbhaya's father said this is a "wrong message".

"She (Indira Jaising) is a woman herself. She should be ashamed of her comments and apologise to Nirbhaya's mother," he told PTI. "We have been fighting the case for seven years.

We are common people and not politicians. Humara dil Sonia Gandhi ji jitna bada nahi hai (We are not as large-hearted as Sonia Gandhi)," he said. "Such mentality is responsible for the rising number of rapes," he added.