Two Supreme Court judgments pronounced in 1982 and 2014, when read collectively, say that none of the four death row convicts in Nirbhaya case can be hanged before the last one has exhausted all legal options including the mercy plea.
There must be a difference of 14 days between rejection of mercy plea and hanging.
One accused was found dead inside Tihar Jail in Delhi. Police said he committed suicide. The juvenile was sent to reformation home for three years. The rest four were convicted and awarded death sentence.
- Two of the convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case have not filed curative petition
- Mercy petition of only one death row convict has been rejected
- SC judgments indicate death row convicts cannot be hanged until all of them have exhausted all options
As of now, February 1 is the date for hanging all four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. Nirbhaya, a paramedic student aged 23, had been gangraped and fatally injured by six including a juvenile.
February 1 is the second date fixed for carrying out the death sentence. The previous date was January 22 but the death warrant could not be executed as some of the accused used legal options, moving curative petition in the Supreme Court and mercy petition to the President.
Two convicts, Mukesh Kumar Singh and Vinay Sharma, have exhausted their legal recourse of curative petition. Mukesh Kumar is the only one whose mercy petition has been rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Vinay Kumar's case is intriguing. A mercy plea was moved before the President in his name last year. With social media discussing delay in disposal of his mercy plea, Vinay Kumar claimed he never moved such a petition. Calling it a conspiracy by jail authorities, Vinay Kumar sent a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind. Now, both the controversial mercy plea and Vinay Kumar's letter are with the President.
The other two, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh, have not yet filed a curative petition.
Lawyers representing them have said the curative petition will be filed against the judgment confirming death sentence.
Speculation is rife that separate curative petitions will be filed by Pawan Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh.
Source: indiatoday.in, Prabhash K Dutta, January 22, 2020
Centre moves SC seeking 7-day deadline for hanging death row convicts
The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for fixing a 7-day deadline for executing death penalty of condemned prisoners.
The plea of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assumes significance in view of the death row convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012 filing review, curative and mercy petitions, which has delayed their hanging.
The MHA’s plea sought a direction from the top court in fixing the deadline for filing of curative pleas after the rejection of review petitions.
It also sought a direction that “if the convict of death sentence wants to file mercy petition, it would be mandatory for a convict of death sentence to do so only within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of death warrant issued by the competent court”.
The plea assumes significance in view of the death row convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case filing review, curative and mercy petitions, which has delayed their hanging
The MHA submitted that the top court should “mandate all the competent courts, state governments, prison authorities in the country to issue death warrant of a convict within seven days of the rejection of his mercy petition and to execute death sentence within seven days thereafter irrespective of the stage of review petition/curative petition/mercy petition of his co-convicts”.
The top court, on January 20, had rejected the plea of a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case challenging the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed his claim of being a juvenile at the time of offence saying he cannot re-agitate the issue by filing fresh application.
A Delhi court has recently issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts—Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31), Mukesh Kumar Singh (32) and Pawan (26) -- in the case after their hanging got delayed from January 22 due to pending petitions.
The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by 6 people before she was thrown out on the road.
Source: The Tribune, Staff, January 22, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
