The 4 convicts, who got death penalty for the gangrape & murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi – dubbed Nirbhaya – more than 7 years ago, will be hanged on March 20, at 5:30 am. This is the 4th death warrant issued by a Delhi court.
The death warrant was issued a day after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy plea of Pawan Gupta, the last of the 4 death row convicts. With the President’s rejection, the convicts had exhausted all options for relief from the death sentence.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana fixed March 20 as the new date of execution after it was told by the Delhi Govt that the convicts have exhausted all their legal remedies. The Advocate for the four death row convicts also told the court that there was no legal impediment for Court in proceeding to fix the date of execution.
The authorities of Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where the men are lodged, had said they approach courts for a fresh date of execution.
Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said that “I hope this is the final date & they would be hanged on March 20. While dying Nirbhaya asked to ensure they get such punishment that such crime is not repeated ever”.
On Monday, the Patiala House court had refused to hold the execution of the four Nirbhaya case convicts, who were to be hanged at 6 am on Tuesday.
The same day, the court dismissed an application to stay the execution of Akshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, & Mukesh Singh, 32, who had staggered multiple petitions challenging their death sentence. The court, while reserving judgement on Pawan Gupta’s mercy petition, tore into the convict’s Advocate for filing the petitions at this stage.
