A fresh death warrant was issued by a court in Delhi for hanging of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case. The time has been fixed at 6 am on February 1. The four convicts on death row are Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh and Vinay Sharma. Earlier, the four were to be hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on January 22 at 7 am, but the execution cannot be carried out due to the legal steps that give the convicts further chance to file petitions against the death sentence.
The Supreme Court has earlier dismissed the curative petitions of two of the four convicted in the case. This was their last possible legal appeal against the death sentence. A Delhi court had thus on January 7 issued the death warrant against the four death row convicts. Later, Mukesh Singh appealed to the President against the death sentence.
Earlier today, President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy plea filed by Mukesh Singh. He turned down the plea just hours after it was forwarded to him by the Union Home Ministry. This petition was filed by Mukesh Singh on Tuesday after the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petitions filed by him and another convict Vinay Sharma. However, as the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh was pending before the President, the Delhi government had told the court earlier this week that the four were not likely to be hanged before the matter was cleared by him.
While Mukesh’s mercy plea has now been turned down, the other three convicts in the case have not yet appealed to the President with mercy petitions. A period of 14 day is given to a convict between the President’s rejection of a mercy petition and the date of the execution. A fresh date has now been fixed at February 1 based on the 14-day time between the rejection of the mercy plea and the date of execution.
Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi, has been extremely distraught for the past few days saying that new dates for hanging the rapists were emerging and “justice” was being delayed. She said she would not be convinced till the actual hanging takes place.
Interestingly, earlier this week, 16 organisations and more than 350 persons working for women’s rights urged the President to stop the execution saying punishment was “not a deterrent against crimes”. They said that there was “no shortcut to justice and safety” and pointed out the need to focus on long term social change. It was also the failure of authorities to ensure security to women that is required.
In 2012, six persons were arrested and charged with rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi, which came to be known as the Nirbhaya case. One of the accused was a minor and was tried in the juvenile justice court. Another accused – Ram Singh – had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
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