Want to be a
Soolegal Member
Team SoOLEGAL
18 Feb 2020 5:03pm

Nirbhaya case: Fresh Death Warrants Against Four Convicts for March 3

0
0
3
0

New Delhi: The four convicts, who received death penalty for gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi more than seven years ago, will be hanged at 6 a.m. on March 3 says the Supreme Court stating deferring it any further now would be sacrilegious the rights of the victim for expeditious justice.”

This is the court's third death warrant for hanging of convicts Mukesh, Akshay, Pawan and Vinay as the two death warrants issued earlier could not serve the purpose as the convicts took turns to use every possible legal recourse and mould it in their favour .

Article 21 merely guarantees an opportunity to the condemned convicts to exercise their legal rights. However, whether to utilise the opportunity or not is a matter of choice of the condemned convicts,” additional sessions judge Dharmendra Rana observed, pointing out that “convict Pawan cannot be permitted to defeat the ends of justice by simply opting to remain indolent”.

During Monday's proceedings, Pawan's counsel Ravi Qazi told the court that the convict “
intends to move a curative petition before the Supreme Court and mercy petition before the President”.

Meanwhile Akshay's counsel A P Singh told the court that he was preparing to file a second mercy petition since the first one that was dismissed " due to poverty and ignorance" weaknesses, and complete facts could not be brought before the President.
But the court denied considering the claim,
noting that "mere preparation of a fresh mercy petition or in the words of court 'a complete mercy petition' cannot be a ground to defer the execution of the death warrant.”

One of the four convicts, Vinay Sharma, started a hunger strike in Delhi's Tihar prison after Supreme Court turned down his petition challenging President Ram Nath Kovind's refusal of his mercy plea. The convict had claimed that after torture in jail, the President had not factored in his mental illness. A medical report dated February 12 was produced by the center showing that he was mentally sound.

In a related development, convict Mukesh sent a communication to the court that he did not want to be represented by Advocate Vrinda Grover after which he appointed Advocate Qazi to represent him as well.

Monday's order came on applications from Nirbhaya's parents and the Delhi government seeking fresh death warrants for the convicts after the Supreme Court granted liberty to the authorities to approach the trial court for issuance of fresh date for the execution of the convicts.


Tagged: Nirbhaya case Supreme Court Mukesh Singh Nirbhaya case Vinay Sharma Nirbhaya case Pawan Gupta Nirbhaya case Akshay Thakur Nirbhaya case Delhi government legal rights
Did you find this write-up useful? YES 1 NO 0
Active Members view all

New Members view all