Nirbhaya rapists’ hanging put off
Says no convict must meet his creator with grievance ‘against courts’
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday deferred till the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case pending disposal of a convict’s mercy plea. The convicts were to be hanged on Tuesday. However, after the apex court rejected his curative plea, Pawan Gupta filed a mercy petition before the President.
New Delhi, March 2: The hanging of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case scheduled for Tuesday was deferred for the third time in six weeks by a court in yet another twist in the case marked by apparent delaying tactics by the condemned prisoners.
Postponing the execution till further orders, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana on Monday said the hanging cannot be carried out pending disposal of Pawan Gupta’s mercy plea before the President, observing any condemned convict must not meet his “creator” with grievance against courts for not acting fairly on the opportunity to exhaust legal remedies.
Earlier, in the day, Pawan(25) moved a clemency plea before President Ram Nath Kovind, shortly after his curative petition was dismissed by the Supreme
Court.
The curative plea for commuting the death sentence was heard in chamber by a five-judge bench. It is the last legal remedy available for a convict to get any reprieve.
The hanging of the four men--Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and
Pawan, who are lodged in Tihar jail, was fixed for March 3 in Tihar jail.
Barring Pawan, the other three had in the previous weeks moved curative petitions and mercy pleas which were all dismissed.
The court in its orders observed that the four convicts cannot be hanged since a mercy plea of one or the other convict was pending.