Nirbhaya convicts won’t be hanged on Feb 1
The hanging of Nirbhaya convicts on February 1 has been postponed again. The Patiala House Court of Delhi has stayed the death warrant of the convicts till further orders. The court has not fixed any date of hanging. In this way, the death warrant of Nirbhaya’s convicts has been postponed for the second time.
A petition was filed on behalf of Nirbhaya convicts in the Patiala House Court, requesting to postpone the hanging on February 1. On Thursday, the court issued notice to Tihar Jail asking it to present its case on Friday morning. On Friday, the jail authorities opposed the petition in a status report filed before Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana.
The jail was informed that one of the convict-Vinay’s mercy petition is pending with the President, while none of the other convicts are pending in the court. In such a situation, there is a legal hurdle in hanging the three convicts Pawan, Vinay and Akshay on February 1. The counsel for the convicts then said that the jail manual says that if the plea of one convict is pending, the rest cannot be hanged. According to the Supreme Court ruling, 14 days will be given after the mercy petition is dismissed. Therefore, no one can be hanged. They sought an indefinite moratorium on the death warrant.
During the hearing, the counsel for Nirbhaya’s parents objected to the appearance of Mukesh’s lawyer Vrinda Grover. However, the court allowed Vrinda to argue. Vrinda said that the culprits cannot be hanged separately. During the hearing, a debate took place between the lawyers, on which the judge expressed his displeasure.
On January 17, the lower court had issued a death warrant sentence for the second time to the four convicts Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay and Akshay to death in the Tihar Jail on February 1 at 6 am. Earlier on January 7, the court fixed January 22 for the execution.
Rule of hanging together
According to the rules, if more than one convict is to be hanged in any case, then the execution of all will remain pending till the time the petition of any one is pending. The Nirbhaya case is similar, with four convicts to be hanged. The hanging on February 1 is also impossible because it is necessary to tell any convict about it 14 days before hanging. All the options of Mukesh Singh are over, while Vinay Sharma’s mercy petition is still under consideration. At the same time, Akshay Singh has the option of mercy petition. While Pawan Gupta has the option of both corrective and mercy petition.
Case of robbery and kidnapping against the culprits
The convicts lawyer AP Singh had recently told the Patiala House Court that Pawan, Mukesh, Akshay and Vinay were sentenced to 10 years in a robbery case by the trial court. An appeal against this decision is pending in the High Court. Until this is decided, the culprits cannot be hanged.
