Delay eroding faith in judiciary: Centre to SC
Court allows Centre to get fresh date of execution as HC deadline for legal remedy expires
NEW DELHI: Delays in punishing convicts in heinous crimes like the 2012 Delhi gang rape is eroding the faith of the public in the judicial system, the central government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a hearing on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, cited the jubilant public reaction to the killing of the accused in the November 2019 rape of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad by the police to drive home his point.
“People were celebrating when rape accused were shot dead in Hyderabad. It shows people are losing faith in our system. In this case (Delhi gang rape) too, I am struggling to get a death warrant even after Your Lordships judgment,” said Mehta ,alleging that the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang rape case were taking the judicial system for a ride by frustrating the mandate of law.
The submissions were made in an appeal filed by the Central and Delhi governments challenging a Delhi HC February 5 judgment which refused to tinker with the postponement of execution of the four death row convicts.
The HC, in its judgment had, asked the convicts to exercise their legal remedies within seven days after which the authorities could act in accordance with the law. As the deadline expired Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave liberty to the Centre to move the trial court for a fresh date of execution of the death warrant.
The four men, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay were convicted for the gang rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student on a moving bus in Delhi and her murder. They were sentenced to death by the trial court in 2013.
Their conviction and sentence were confirmed by the Delhi high court in 2014 and the Supreme Court in May 2017. Subsequently, the review petitions filed by three convicts, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, against the SC judgment were dismissed in 2018 and the review petition by Akshay was dismissed in December 2019.
The main objection raised by the Centre before the SC was to the HC’S rejection of the government plea to hang those convicts who have exhausted their legal remedies. The HC had rejected the plea citing the SC verdict in an “unfortunate” case where after one convict was executed, the co-accused’s death sentence was commuted to life.
The central and Delhi government submitted that the law, including the Delhi prison rules, do not mandate that all death row convicts in a case should be executed simultaneously.
The bench turned down the request stating and posted the matter for February 13.