Nirbhaya case: Supreme Court postpones hearing on separate execution plea to March 5

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing of Centre’s plea for separate execution of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder convicts to March 5. The plea was scheduled to be heard on Tuesday by a bench of Justices R. Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan & Navin Sinha.
The Centre had moved the apex court in the matter after Delhi High Court rejected its petition. The court had on February 5 ruled that nothing was stated specifically in Delhi prison rules about separately executing a convict when the mercy plea of other convicts are pending.
So far three death warrants have been issued for the convicts Nirbhaya case of which two were invalidated as the convicts kept resorting to legal remedies.
This was criticised as delay tactics on the convicts’ part and the Centre thus moved the apex court for framing victim-centric laws for speeding the process of justice. It was in this regard that the Centre moved court to seek separate execution of those convicts in the case who had exhausted all their legal remedies.
A fresh death warrant was issued on February 17 for the four death row convicts – Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh – in the case for their hanging at 6 am on March 3.
Six persons were arrested and charged with rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi in 2012, which came to be known as the Nirbhaya case. One of the accused was a minor and was tried in the juvenile justice court. He was released after three years. Another accused – Ram Singh – had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

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