NEW DELHI: For the parents of Nirbhaya, justice for their daughter seems to taking a little longer as a Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts, ordering their execution at 6 am on February 1.
Earlier, the court had issued the warrants for January 22. Additional Sessions Judge Satish Arora issued the warrants hours after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy petition filed by one of the convicts, Mukesh Singh.
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The judge made it clear that all the convicts are entitled to 14 days of time after their mercy petition is rejected by the President to prepare for their execution.
Citing a SC judgment and the prison rules, advocate Vrinda Grover told the court that even if the mercy petition is rejected in a day or two, the hanging would have to be stopped because the rules say that a death row convict has to be given 14 days from the date of rejection of the mercy plea.AP Singh, who represents the other three convicts Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur, told the court that he is waiting for certain case details from Tihar jail.
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Pawan Gupta, meanwhile, has moved the Supreme Court, claiming he was a juvenile in 2012 and should be tried accordingly. He has challenged the Delhi high court order of December 19, said Singh. According to legal experts, all four convicts will have to exhaust all legal remedies, including filing the mercy petition, and only then can the execution take place as per the jail manual.
Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind rejected Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea. The Home Ministry had forwarded the mercy plea to him and had reiterated the recommendation of the lieutenant governor of Delhi for its rejection. Copies of the President’s order was also supplied to the other convicts.
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‘Welcome President’s decision’
The father of the 23-year-old paramedic student, who was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in December 2012, on Friday hoped that the men will not escape the gallows after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy plea of one of the four convicts.
Kovind on Friday rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh Singh, one of the four men convicted in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, sources said. “We are happy that the chances of them getting hanged have increased. We are assured that as soon as they file mercy pleas they will be rejected,” the father said. He said the news of the execution not happening on January 22 had disheartened them but Friday’s developments have heightened their hopes.