India | Nirbhaya Convicts Write To International Court Of Justice Against Execution Of Death Sentence

Nirbhaya convicts and their families have written a letter to the Judges of the International Court of Justice seeking urgent hearing to prevent their “unlawful execution”.

As per the latest death warrant, the four convicts ie. Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and Vinay are slated to be hanged on March 20 at 5.30 am.

The letter states that the legal remedies/cases are still pending before courts, yet the Tihar Jail Authorities are going to hang the convicts on March 20.

While calling the scheduled execution of convicts as hurried, secretive and illegal, The letter urges,

"I write to you to request your support and help, in whatever form, to prevent this barbaric and inhumane punishment from being inflicted upon convicts, the death penalty has no relevance in a progressive and modern International era. Inflicting it upon prisoners, who belong to the economically most vulnerable section of society will only serve to take out international forum several steps back."

The letter also refers to the limited functioning of the courts due to the COVID-19 outbreak and states,

“Everyone is aware of what is happening in the world and also Delhi NCR in regard of water and air. Life is going short to short, then why death penalty?” -- Letter to ICJ

Interference of ICJ is sought on the ground that the investigation in the case was flawed and unreliable.

“Many facts of the investigation that pertain to recording of dying declaration, recording of statements of witnesses under Section 161 of the CrPc, the medical examination, holding of the test identification parade, the manner and method of search and seizure and the procedure of arrest have been seriously doubtful in this case due to international media pressure.", it is asserted.

The letter cites refusal to let CBI investigate the incident, refusal to carry out the polygraph tests on the convicts, false testimony, death of accused Ram Singh in Tihar as instances to allege “sheer callousness” in the matter.

The letter also claims that one of the convicts, Pawan was a juvenile at the time of the incident.

It is further alleged that the political class was using investigating agencies as tools for partisan politics.

In view of the above, the convicts have not only sought a stay on the execution of the death sentence but have also prayed for an open court hearing by allowing counsel for the convicts, Advocate AP Singh to make his submissions.

Source: barandbench.com, Staff, March 16, 2020

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