Nirbhaya case: Delhi court defers hanging of 4 death row convicts until further order

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A Delhi court deferred until further order the hanging of four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder convict.

The execution of the four convicts was scheduled for 6 am on March 3.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said that the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta.

The court passed the order on Pawan’s plea seeking to stay the execution as he filed a mercy petition before the President on March 2.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court had dismissed the pleas of two of the four convicts which sought a stay on the execution. The court decided however to hear the lawyer of one of the two convicts, Pawan Kumar Gupta, after it was informed that he has filed a mercy plea before the President after his curative petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana asked Pawan’s lawyer, A P Singh, to come post lunch to argue on why stay of execution be granted.

The court dismissed the applications for stay moved by Pawan and co-convict Akshay Kumar Singh.

After the order was passed, Pawan’s lawyer informed the court that he has filed a mercy plea before the President and the execution be stayed.

Akshay, in his application for stay, had said that he has filed a fresh mercy petition before the President of India, which is pending.

He contended that his earlier mercy petition which was dismissed by the President did not have complete facts.

Pawan had taken the ground that he has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court. He had also said that he had an option to file a mercy petition.

Both the convicts told the court further that a number of other petitions are also pending before the Supreme Court and other authorities.

The court had on February 17 had ordered that the four convicts — Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) — be hanged on March 3 after it issued fresh death warrants, observing that deferring the execution any further would be “sacrilegious” to the rights of the victim for expeditious justice.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow