Nirbhaya convict's wife threatens to kill herself, day before execution

Only just 24 hours before the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case are to be hanged, a drama unfold outside Delhi’s Patiala House court on Thursday as the wife of one of the convicts threatened to kill herself.

Akshay Singh and three others, found guilty of the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in 2012, will be hanged tomorrow.

The convicts have used every tactics to defer the hanging, taking turns to file repeated pleas, another petition was to be heard by the court today, filed by three of the convicts two days ago.

Outside the court that was to hear the case, Punita Devi, the wife of Akshay Singh, was found sitting this morning with her kid beside her. The woman seemed to have a nervous breakdown and fainted. After regaining consciousness, she started beating herself with a slipper, stating, ‘i dont want to live. I will kill myself.’

The woman has also filed for divorce in a local court in Bihar, contending that she doesn’t wish to be a widow of a man who was hanged.

In the divorce petition, she asserted that her husband was innocent. "My husband is innocent. I want to be legally divorced before he is hanged," she said in her petition.

During today’s proceedings, the court was told that all four convicts have used up all legal remedies available to them.

The four convicts had gang-raped and murdered a 23-year-old woman on the night of 16th December 2012.

Also Read: Nirbhaya Case: President refuses to consider mercy petition filed by convicts, hanging tomorrow

Also Read: Nirbhaya Case: One of the convicts file petition claiming he was not in Delhi on day of crime