Nirbhaya Case: Convicts Not To Be Hanged Today As Delhi Court Stays Execution Until Further Order

A Delhi court on Monday stayed the execution of all four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case till further order. The court deferred that matter as mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the convicts, is pending before the President of India. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said 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 has filed a mercy petition before the President on Monday. Hanging of the four convicts was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 AM.

The trial court on February 17 had issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for March 3 at 6 am for the four convicts - Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31). The mercy petitions of three convicts -- Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay -- have already been dismissed by the President.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court dismisses dismissed the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta seeking commutation of death penalty into life term. A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict. Other members of the bench were justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed separate pleas filed by Mukesh and Vinay challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. Akshay has not yet challenged the rejection of his mercy petition.

Nirbhaya Gangrape And Murder - A Case That Shook The World

The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital. The brutality of the crime shook the nation, leading to country-wide protests and a change in India’s rape laws.

Six people—Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile—were named as accused. The trial of the five adult men began in a special fast-track court in March 2013. The prime accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar jail days after the trial began. The juvenile, who was said to be the most brutal of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years.

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He was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. The juvenile, when released, was 20 years old. Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay and Pawan were convicted and sentenced to death in September 2013.

With PTI Inputs