Such barbaric crime shook the country and led to nationwide agitation over the issue of women’s safety and seeking speedy trial of the accused
New Delhi: On Friday Delhi High Court has issued a fresh death sentence for the four men on death row in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case, scheduling their execution for 6 am on February 1.
In additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora was hearing a plea by one of the four death row convicts in the case, Mukesh Kumar Singh, seeking postponement of the date of his execution which was scheduled for January 22.
Earlier in the day, the Tihar jail authorities sought the issuance of the fresh death sentence against the four convicts.
Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed told the court that Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea was rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday.
The medical student, 23, called Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and viciously assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the street. She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Ram Singh, and a juvenile were accused in the case.
Meanwhile, Pawan Gupta has moved the apex court, claiming he was a juvenile in 2012 and should be tried accordingly. He has challenged Delhi high court order of December 19, his lawyer AP Singh said.
Such barbaric crime shook the country and led to nationwide agitation over the issue of women’s safety and seeking speedy trial of the accused. The trial of the five adult men accused began in a special fast-track court in March 2013.
The main accused in the case was Ram Singh who committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar jail days after the trial began. The juvenile accused in the case he was said to be the most vicious of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years. He was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. The juvenile was released, when he was 20-years-old.
Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, and Pawan were convicted and given a death sentence in September 2013. They all were supposed to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar Jail. But, meanwhile, Delhi high court had announced on January 7 while issuing their death sentence. However, the Delhi government informed the high court during a hearing that the execution of the convicts will not take place on the designated day as a mercy plea had been filed by Mukesh Singh.
“The Home Ministry has sent on the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh to the president. The Ministry has repeated the suggestion of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for its rejection,” a Home Ministry official said on Friday morning.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office sent Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea to the Home Ministry on Thursday, a day after the Delhi government suggested its rejection.
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