Nirbhaya rapist-murderers to hang at 7am on Jan 22: Court
‘Enough Time Given To Exhaust Legal Remedies’
Aamir.Khan2@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:08.01.2020
The 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case finally moved towards closure when a city court on Tuesday ordered the hanging of the four death row convicts at 7am on January 22, saying they had been given “sufficient time and opportunity” to exhaust their legal remedies.
The order to execute the death sentence of the convicts—Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur—comes six years after another trial court had sentenced them to death.
Nirbhaya’s mother had filed a plea in Delhi’s Patiala House courts, through her advocates, seeking death warrants against the four convicts on December 13, 2018.
In his order, additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora observed that the convicts had either exhausted their remedies or hadn’t exercised some of them despite being given sufficient time and opportunity. “In these facts and circumstances, when reasonable time and opportunity has been afforded to them, there is nothing to delay passing of orders on the applications seeking issuance of death warrants,” held the court.
During the hearing, the lawyers appearing for the convicts sought time to file curative petitions before opting for a mercy plea. The lawyersamicus curiae Vrinda Grover appearing for Mukesh and Vinay, and A P Singh for Pawan and Akshay—submitted they were in the process of filing curative petitions. They, therefore, sought time to exhaust this remedy before a mercy plea. Grover submitted that documents required to be relied upon for filing of a curative plea were yet to be supplied to her by the jail authorities.
The submissions were opposed by the lawyers appearing for the victim’s mother and special prosecutors Rajiv Mohan and Irfan Ahmed.
‘Enough Time Given To Exhaust Legal Remedies’
Aamir.Khan2@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:08.01.2020
The 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case finally moved towards closure when a city court on Tuesday ordered the hanging of the four death row convicts at 7am on January 22, saying they had been given “sufficient time and opportunity” to exhaust their legal remedies.
The order to execute the death sentence of the convicts—Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur—comes six years after another trial court had sentenced them to death.
Nirbhaya’s mother had filed a plea in Delhi’s Patiala House courts, through her advocates, seeking death warrants against the four convicts on December 13, 2018.
In his order, additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora observed that the convicts had either exhausted their remedies or hadn’t exercised some of them despite being given sufficient time and opportunity. “In these facts and circumstances, when reasonable time and opportunity has been afforded to them, there is nothing to delay passing of orders on the applications seeking issuance of death warrants,” held the court.
During the hearing, the lawyers appearing for the convicts sought time to file curative petitions before opting for a mercy plea. The lawyersamicus curiae Vrinda Grover appearing for Mukesh and Vinay, and A P Singh for Pawan and Akshay—submitted they were in the process of filing curative petitions. They, therefore, sought time to exhaust this remedy before a mercy plea. Grover submitted that documents required to be relied upon for filing of a curative plea were yet to be supplied to her by the jail authorities.
The submissions were opposed by the lawyers appearing for the victim’s mother and special prosecutors Rajiv Mohan and Irfan Ahmed.
Copy of death warrants to be sent to Tihar
They said that there was nothing pending before any court and the execution of death warrants could be ordered. The prosecutors submitted that all the four convicts could keep exercising their legal rights even after an order to that effect had been passed.
It also came on record that after the last hearing on December 18, 2019, the Tihar jail authorities had informed the convicts about the remedy of filing a mercy petition. This notice, however, was objected to by the convicts on the ground that they still had the remedy of filing a curative petition before the SC.
A status of their legal remedies till now showed that the review petitions of all convicts had been dismissed.
Judge Arora noted that it was “apparent” that the convicts had already been extended sufficient time and opportunity to exhaust legal remedies. And as a result, the court disposed of the plea of Nirbhaya’s mother and that of the state seeking issuance of the death warrants. “Copy of this order with the death warrants to be sent to the Tihar jail superintendent,” it said.
They said that there was nothing pending before any court and the execution of death warrants could be ordered. The prosecutors submitted that all the four convicts could keep exercising their legal rights even after an order to that effect had been passed.
It also came on record that after the last hearing on December 18, 2019, the Tihar jail authorities had informed the convicts about the remedy of filing a mercy petition. This notice, however, was objected to by the convicts on the ground that they still had the remedy of filing a curative petition before the SC.
A status of their legal remedies till now showed that the review petitions of all convicts had been dismissed.
Judge Arora noted that it was “apparent” that the convicts had already been extended sufficient time and opportunity to exhaust legal remedies. And as a result, the court disposed of the plea of Nirbhaya’s mother and that of the state seeking issuance of the death warrants. “Copy of this order with the death warrants to be sent to the Tihar jail superintendent,” it said.
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