Dec 16 killers’ execution now moved to Feb 1
Court issues fresh black warrant after President Kovind rejects mercy plea by one of the convicts
NEW DELHI: The execution of the death sentence in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in 2012 was delayed on Friday, with a Delhi court issuing a fresh black warrant for 6am on February 1 for the four convicts after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy petition by one of them.
The court previously set January 22 as the date for the hanging in the sensational case that triggered nationwide protests and paved the way for stricter anti-rape laws in the country.
On Friday, however, additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora expressed displeasure while saying that the death sentence will now be executed at 6am on February 1.
“This case presents a scenario when convicts were given the opportunity to file mercy but only one preferred. There might be delay tactics. For how long will this go on? Had death warrant not been issued, the convicts would not have initiated their legal remedies,” Arora said.
The Delhi court was hearing the plea by Mukesh for the postponement of the date of his execution scheduled for 7am on January 22 in view of the pendency of his mercy petition.
According to a previous
Supreme Court judgment and prison rules, a convict can’t be hanged for at least 14 days after his mercy plea is rejected, which explains the February 1 death warrant.
Three of the four convicts -Akshay Kumar Thakur (33), Pawan Gupta (25) and Vinay Sharma (27) — still have legal remedies available to them. While Askhay and Pawan can still file curative pleas (the last recourse from the legal system), all convicts except Mukesh also have the provision to seek mercy from the President.
Two lawyers familiar with such cases -- Rishabh Sancheti and Rebecca John -- said that though there is no technical bar on Tihar Jail authorities to execute the death sentence of Mukesh on February 1, even if one of the other convicts moves a curative or mercy petition, the norm is that if multiple people are convicted of the same offence, their death sentences are carried out together.
A third lawyer, Ajay Verma, however, said that the prison manual dictated that all the death sentences of convicts in the same crime can only be executed simultaneously. When contacted on Friday, Tihar Jail authorities indicated that the hanging of the four convicts will only be carried out together.
“The four persons have to be executed together,” a senior Tihar Jail official said, asking not to be named.