Delhi Court Refuses To Issue Death Warrant To Nirbhaya Convicts, Next Hearing On January 7

The Patiala House Court on Tuesday refused to issue death warrants to the Nirbhaya convicts. The court ordered the Tihar Jail to issue fresh notices to the convicts. Hearing on issue of death warrants to convicts in Nirbhaya case has been adjourned till January 7, 2020. In new notices, the Tihar Jail will ask the convicts whether they want to file mercy plea or not. Nirbhaya’s mother broke down in the court. She said that she has waited for so long for justice. “Have full sympathy with you. We know someone has died but there are their(convicts) rights too. We are here to listen to you but are also bound by the law,” the court told Nirbhaya’s mother.

The development assumes significance as the Supreme Court today dismissed the plea to review death penalty of Akshay Kumar Singh, one of the four convicts, saying there was no merit in the case. Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, who was hearing the plea of Delhi government seeking issuance of death warrants for executing the convicts, said that it will wait for the apex court order's copy.

A 23-year-old paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a running bus in south Delhi by six people and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide at Tihar Jail in Delhi. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.