A Delhi Court on Wednesday adjourned for tomorrow the hearing on pleas seeking fresh death warrants against four convicts.
The Delhi court has also offered to give convict Pawan Gupta legal aid after he said he does not have a lawyer. "Any condemned convict is entitled for legal aide till his last breath, " the court said.
Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana expressed displeasure over delay from Pawan's side who said he has removed his earlier lawyer and will need time to engage a new one.
Pawan has not yet filed a curative petition -- the last and final legal remedy available to a person which is decided in-chamber. He also has the option of filing a mercy plea.
District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) provided Pawan's father with a list of its empanelled advocates to choose from.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi broke down in the court.
Asha Devi who has been fighting the case for over seven years now told, "what about my rights? I am standing with folded hands. Please issue death warrants. I am also human. It’s been more than 7 years."
After the verdict deferred in Nirbhaya death penalty order till Thursday, Nirbhaya's mother left the courtroom saying, "I am losing faith and hope now. Court must understand the delay tactics of the convicts. Now if a new lawyer is provided to convict Pawan he/she will take his/her own time to go through case files."
"I am wandering here and there to get justice for my daughter. These convicts are using delaying tactics. I don't know why the Court is not able to understand this," she said.
Nirbhaya's parents and the Delhi government moved a trial court on Tuesday seeking fresh death warrants for the four death row convicts.
The Tihar jail authorities also filed a status report on Tuesday before the trial court stating that no legal option was preferred by any of the convicts in last seven day period, granted by the Delhi High Court.
The trial court had, on February 7, dismissed the pleas of Delhi government and Tihar jail authorities seeking fresh date for execution of the four death row convicts in the case.
They had taken note of the high court's February 5 order, permitting the convicts to exercise their legal remedies within one week.
The date of execution, first fixed for January 22 in Tihar jail, was later postponed for 6 am on February 1 by a January 17 court order.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was gang-raped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi.
She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.
Six people including the four convicts, Ram Singh and a juvenile -- were named as accused. The trial of the five adult men began in a special fast-track court in March 2013.
Ram Singh, the prime accused, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar jail days after the trial began. The juvenile, who was said to be the most brutal of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years.
The juvenile was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. He, when released, was 20 years old.
Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay and Pawan were sentenced to death in September 2013 by the trial court.
Source: Mumbai Mirror, Staff, February 12, 2020
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