Nirbhaya Case: Tihar Jail Writes To Convicts Akshay, Vinay On Last Meeting With Families

Ahead of the March 3 hanging, the Tihar Jail administration on Saturday wrote to all the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case in connection with their last meeting with their families. "Out of the four convicts, Mukesh and Pawan have been told that they had already met their families before the February 1 death warrant, while Akshay and Vinay have now been asked when they want to meet their families," news agency ANI quoted Tihar Jail official as saying.

During the last meeting, inmates are allowed to meet their families face-to-face. Meanwhile, authorities have written to the Uttar Pradesh Jail administration to send the hangman two days before March 3, when the four convicts will be hanged.

On Monday, Delhi’s Patiala House Court issued fresh death warrants against all the four death-row convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana issued fresh warrants against death row convicts -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31). The convicts will be executed on March 3 at 6 am in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

This is the third time the court issued death warrants for their execution. The date of execution, first fixed for January 22, was postponed for 6 am on February 1 by a January 17 court order. The trial court later, on January 31, stayed, "till further orders" the execution of the four convicts, who are lodged in Tihar Jail.

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. 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 Agency Inputs)