Delhi court defers hanging of 4 Nirbhaya case convicts till further orders

The attack on December 16, 2012 prompted India to enact tough new laws against sexual violence

A Delhi court Monday deferred till further order the hanging of four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case pending disposal of a convict’s mercy plea, saying it was “an important constitutional legal principle”. All the convicts in the case were to be hanged together on Tuesday at 6 AM. The execution of their death warrants has now been deferred thrice due to delays in exhausting legal remedies.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Gupta. “Despite stiff resistance from the victim’s side, I am of the opinion that any condemned convict must not meet his Creator with a grievance in his bosom that the courts of the country have not acted fairly in granting him an opportunity to exhaust his legal remedies,” the judge said.

“As a cumulative effect of the discussion, I am of the opinion that the death sentence cannot be executed pending the disposal of the mercy petition of the convict. It is hereby directed that the execution of death warrants against all the convicts, scheduled for March 3 at 6 AM, is deferred till further orders,” the judge added. The court passed the order on Pawan’s plea seeking to stay the execution as he filed a mercy petition before the President on Monday…

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Nirbhaya gangrape case: SC rejects curative plea of death row convict

A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a curative petition filed by convict Pawan Kumar Gupta who was sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict.

Other members of the bench were justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan. The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the remaining three convicts. A fresh death warrant has also been issued for the four convicts — Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh — setting the time of their hanging at 6 am on March 3 at Delhi’s Tihar Jail. The mercy petitions of three convicts — Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay — have already been dismissed by the President.

The apex court had earlier dismissed separate pleas filed by Mukesh and Vinay challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. Akshay has not yet challenged the rejection of his mercy petition. The four were convicted in the brutal gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

SC rejects Delhi rape case convict’s appeal against rejection of mercy plea

A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said that expeditious disposal of mercy plea by the President doesn’t mean non-application of mind by him

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of death row convict Mukesh Singh against rejection of mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind. A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said that expeditious disposal of mercy plea by the President doesn’t mean non-application of mind by him.

“All relevant material including judgements pronounced by trial court, high court and Supreme Court were placed before the President when he was considering the mercy plea of the convict,” the bench added. The bench also noted that alleged sufferings in jail can’t be grounds to challenge rejection of mercy plea by President.

The President had on January 17 rejected the mercy petition of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case convict. Mukesh Singh, 32, had submitted the plea challenging the rejection of the mercy petition last week. The Supreme Court had earlier questioned Singh as to how he can allege ‘non application of mind’ by the President in rejecting his mercy petition…