Court Says All 4 Convicts In Nirbhaya Case Have To Be Executed Together. When Will It Happen?

The Delhi High Court has dismissed the Centre's plea against the trial court's order staying the execution of all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

The HC on Wednesday made it clear that all the four convicts have to be executed together, not separately. The high court also faulted the authorities concerned for not taking steps for issuance of death warrant after the rejection of appeals of the accused by the Supreme Court in 2017.

The Delhi government had sought warrants for the execution of death sentence to the four convicts on December 18, 2019. The Centre and the Delhi government had challenged the trial court's January 31 order staying "till further orders" the execution of all the four convicts in the case Mukesh Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar.

The parents of the victim had urged the court to expeditiously decide the Centre's plea and were assured by the judge that the order would be passed at the earliest. The trial court had on January 7 issued black warrants for the execution of all the four convicts in Tihar jail at 7 AM on January 22.

However, they could not be hanged due to the pendency of the mercy petition of one of them. On January 17, the trial court fixed February 1, 6 AM as the hanging date and time. On January 31, the trial court again stayed the execution as the counsel for three convicts, Pawan, Vinay and Akshay urged it to adjourn the matter "sine die" saying their legal remedies were yet to be exhausted.

AP

While the mercy pleas of Mukesh and Vinay have been rejected by the President, Pawan has not yet filed it. Akshay's mercy plea was filed on February 1 and is pending. The Centre and Delhi government approached the high court on February 1, challenging the trial court's order staying the execution. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing them, had contended that it was a deliberate and calculated design of the convicts to "frustrate mandate of law" by getting their execution delayed and they were not entitled to any more time.

On Wednesday, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait directed the convicts to exhaust within seven days all the remedies available to them after which the authorities should act as per law. The court said that the proceedings against them for the execution of a death warrant will be initiated after a week. The High Court observed that according to Delhi prison rules if a mercy petition is submitted, a 14 days period has to be given after the dismissal of the mercy plea.

The high court, however, said: "It cannot be disputed that the convicts have frustrated the process by using delaying tactics."

AFP

The four men along with another man, Ram Singh, and a juvenile were arrested for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student inside a moving bus in south Delhi. While Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail in 2013, the juvenile, who was convicted by a juvenile justice board was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.