Gang rape convicts can’t be hanged on Jan 22: Delhi HC
NEWDELHI:THE hanging of the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 gang rape case cannot take place on January 22, a Delhi court said citing Delhi Prison Rules, while also directing the Tihar jail authorities to file a status report on the mercy pleas and scheduled execution.
Additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora said that the report submitted by the jail authorities was incomplete and sought a detailed report while posting the matter to Friday for further hearing.
“Even if the mercy petition is decided by the President, December 22 cannot be the execution date as 14 days have to be given for the preparation of the execution,” the judge said, while adding that the jail authorities have given him an incomplete report.
The court’s order came while hearing a plea by Mukesh Singh, one of the convict, who had sought that the black warrant issued should be kept in abeyance or set aside in the wake of the mercy petition that has been filed.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, counsel for Mukesh, had moved the trial court on Wednesday immediately after the Delhi High Court had refused to set aside the death warrant in wake of the mercy petition pending before the President of India.
On Thursday, Grover told the court that the black warrant issued by the court on January 7 be kept in abeyance or set aside because the mercy petition is pending before the President. She said that the order of the court issuing the black warrant was correct at that time but with the change in circumstances, it now cannot be complied with on January 22.
The lawyer for the jail authorities said that they have already informed the Delhi government about the recent updates. However, the court said that the report should have been given to it. “When you were sending the report to Delhi government, a copy of it should have been given to the court. The report that you have given me is incomplete,” the judge said.
The court directed a fresh status report from Tihar and posted the matter for Friday at 3 pm.
AAP GOVT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELAY: JAVADEKAR
Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in-charge for the February 8 Delhi Assembly elections, blamed the Aam Aadmi Party government for delay in hanging of four convicts. “The convicts have not been hanged so far because of the irresponsibility of AAP government. There is a process of giving notice to convicts sentenced to death by prison authorities, so they can take legal action. This was not done for 2.5 years,” he said.