Delhi court stays execution of Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts till further orders
Delhi Court on Friday accepted the petition filed by death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case, seeking a stay on their execution on 1st February. The hanging have been deferred till further oders.
The judgement was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana at New Delhi’s Patiala House court.
Lawyer AP Singh, appearing for the convicts has advocated the court to adjourn the executions ‘sine die’(with no appointed date for resumption) as Vinay's mercy petition before the president is pending.
Stating only one convict’s petition is pending and the others can be executed, Tihar jail officials challenged the application of the three condemned prisoners in the case seeking a stay on their gallows.
The convict’s legal representative failed to agree with the jail authorities and stated that rules order that when one convict's plea is pending the others cannot be executed.
The fourth person who is facing the gallows in the case is Mukesh Kumar, whose mercy petition was dismissed by President Ram Nath Kovind on 17th January. The appeal against the rejection was rejected by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The trial court in 17th January furnished black warrants for the second time for the hanging of all the convicts in the case in Tihar jail at 6 am on 1st February.
The curative petitions of Vinay and Akshay have been dismissed by the Supreme Court. Pawan is the only one who has not filed a curative plea.
Convicts have the choice of moving a mercy plea before the president only after the top court dismisses their curative plea.
A 23-year-old girl who later came to be known as "Nirbhaya" was gangraped and murdered on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.
Also Read: Nirbhaya case: One of the convicts attempts suicide in Tihar jail
