Tihar Jail Requests Two Hangmen From UP Amid Speculation Over Execution Of Nirbhaya Killers

The Tihar Jail in Delhi has asked Uttar Pradesh to provide two hangmen at short notice, amid reports that four men convicted in the Nirbhaya rape-and-murder case may be executed soon. Uttar Pradesh's Additional Director General (Prisons) Anand Kumar told reporters on Thursday that the department is ready to provide the hangmen.

Earlier, speculations were rife that the convicts of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder may be hanged on 16 December- the seventh anniversary of the heinous crime. However, with the Supreme Court to consider the review petition of one of the convicts Akshay Kumar Singh on December 17- these speculations have been put to rest. There is another speculation that they execution may take place on December 29th- the day Nirabhaya passed away. 

Though there has been no official confirmation or denial form the Tihar jail authorities, the buzz is that the prison corridors are busy with preparations. A report by Hindustan Times said that the Tihar Jail officials are silently preparing to hang the convicts. The report added that from ordering execution ropes to writing to other states for hangmen, Tihar Jail officials are readying for the crucial day. Pawan Gupta, one of the convicts in the case, was also shifted from Mandoli jail to high-profile Tihar Jail.

 The sources had told News Nation that the authorities are following the 'due procedure'. The sources, however, had rejected media reports about Buxar jail preparing the execution ropes for the December 16 convicts. The sources said that officials can’t issue such an order until the court has issued the 'black warrant'. The sources also said that the 'execution chamber' located inside the jail No. 3 inside Tihar premises 'is always ready'.

Another report says that as many as 15 'volunteers' have applied to Tihar Jail to hang the Nirbhaya convicts. Two of these volunteers are foreigners.

One of the accused Ram Singh had hanged himself in the jail and another, the juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility. On July 9 last year, the apex court dismissed the pleas of three convicts -- Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25) -- seeking review of it 2017 verdict which upheld the capital punishment given to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case. 

Meanwhile, one of the four convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking review of its 2017 judgment handing down death penalty to all of them. The apex court, on July 9, 2018, had dismissed the review pleas filed by three other convicts in the case. Akshya, 31, who had not filed the review plea earlier with other three convicts, has now moved the apex court with the petition, his lawyer AP Singh said.