LIVE Nirbhaya Case: Delhi court to pronounce order on death warrants against 4 convicts shortly (Photo Credit: IANS)
New Delhi:
A Delhi court on Tuesday issued death warrants against four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya Gang rape and murder case. They will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail, the court said on Tuesday. The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora who issued the death warrants against the four death row convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).
The court said the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days. AP Singh, lawyer of convicts, confirmed that they will file a curative petition in the Supreme Court.
The convicts were produced before the court through video conferencing.
During the hearing, the prosecution said there was no application pending before any court or the President right now by any of the convicts and the review petition of all the convicts was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
While urging the court to issue the death warrants, the prosecution said, "In between issuance and execution of death warrants of the convicts want to file curative petitions they can do so."
The counsel for two of the convicts - Mukesh and Vinay - said they were in the process of filing curative petition in the Supreme Court.
The trial court had earlier directed Tihar jail authorities to seek within a week response from the four death row convicts as to whether they were filing mercy pleas against their executions with the President of India.
It was hearing the applications moved by Nirbhaya's parents and the prosecution (Delhi government) seeking issuance of death warrant against the convict.
The Supreme Court on December 18 had dismissed the plea of Akshay seeking review of its decision, saying review petition is not "re-hearing of appeal over and over again" and it had already considered the mitigating and aggravating circumstances while upholding the death penalty.
The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being thrown out on the road.
She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
On July 9 last year, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.
One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
The top court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.
(With PTI Inputs)
The four convicts in the Nirbhaya case will be executed in Jail No 3, a senior Tihar Jail official said on Tuesday, hours after a Delhi court issued death warrants against them and declared that they will be hanged at 7 am on January 22.
Three of the convicts are lodged in Jail No 2, while one is in Jail No 4, the official said. Sources said the jail authorities will approach a hangman in Meerut to carry out the execution.
The death warrants of the four convicts has been delivered to Tihar jail. The jail authorities will now begin the preparations for the executions of the convicts.
The Congress on Tuesday welcomed the issuance of death warrants against the four Nirbhaya case convicts saying it would give peace to her family and the country, but rued the delay in justice delivery.
Welcoming the order, Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev told PTI, "I feel justice delayed is justice denied. After changing so many laws, after the Verma committee report, still it took seven years."
Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal welcomed the order.
"It's a victory for every citizen of the country, I salute the mother who kept fighting for the past seven years," she said. "I would also like to thank the judges. Such rapists should be brought to justice in six months."
Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, who issued the death warrants, said the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days. AP Singh, lawyer of convicts, said they will file a curative petition in the Supreme Court.
What Is Death or Black Warrant
The death or black warrant is that piece of paper that initiates the procedure for executing a person who has been sentenced to die. The black warrant, which is part of the Code of Criminal Procedure, lists the time and place the execution must take place.
The order will restore faith of women in law, says Nirbhaya's mother on death warrant order.
Delhi court has issued death warrants against all four death row convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. Court has issued a warrant for January 22 at 7 am.
Media has been asked to leave the court room as Akshay is about to speak to the court.
Convict Akshay has sought permission to speak to court. The four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case have been produced in the court again via video conference.
We are waiting for the court's order on execution of death warrants. The convicts have no appeals pending now: Asha Devi, Nirbhaya's mother
Asha Devi, mother of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim: We are waiting for the court's order on execution of death warrants. The convicts have no appeals pending now. pic.twitter.com/hJSdZSgxzL
— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2020
A Delhi court will pronounce order at 3.30pm today on the plea of parents of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim seeking to expedite the procedure to hang all 4 convicted in the case and also seeking issuance of death warrant against them.
