Nirbhaya Convicts Hanging Would Not Happen on Jan 22: Delhi Govt To High Court

The Nirbhaya Rape Case has taken a new turn as the Delhi government informed that the convicts in the 2012 gang rape case will not be hanged on January 22. The reason given by the government is that as a mercy petition has been filed with the President the hanging will not take place.

The state government said it is bound by prison rules to wait for convict’s mercy plea to be decided before executing the death warrant. They further added that they will go to a lower court on January 21, for a fresh death warrant. As per law, after the mercy petition is dismissed, 14 days are given to the convicts.

The Home Department of the Delhi government has rejected the petition and forwarded it to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. The file will later be sent to the Home Ministry, which will forward it to the President.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday had dismissed the curative petitions filed by Mukesh and Vinay Sharma. They had challenged the May 2017 judgment of the court that had upheld their conviction and death sentence. Immediately after the rejection, Mukesh had filed his mercy plea before the President.

Mukesh has also moved the Delhi High Court challenging the issuance of the death warrant by the additional sessions judge when his mercy petition was pending before the President. His lawyer has also asked that her client be given a minimum of 14 days’ notice if the mercy petition is rejected by the President to prepare for his departure from the world.

The four convicts in the case — Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Singh — were scheduled to be executed at 7 am on January 22 in the Tihar jail premises.

Also Read: Nirbhaya Case: Delhi court issues death warrants to four convicts