Convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape case to not be executed on Tuesday

A Delhi court on Monday (March 2) deferred the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case after the mercy petition of one of the convicts, Pawan Kumar Gupta was rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The four of them were scheduled to be hanged to death on Tuesday (March 3) at 6 am. However, according to Delhi Prison rules, a convict has to be given 14 days time to “mentally prepare himself/herself” after the rejection of the mercy plea.

Earlier, the Patiala Court House rejected the pleas of Pawan Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh seeking a stay on the execution of their death warrants.

The Delhi court decided to hear the Pawan’s lawyer’s statement after they were informed that he had filed a mercy plea with President Ram Nath Kovind.

The court also slammed Pawan’s lawyer A P Singh for filing the curative and mercy pleas late. The judge warned him that he was “playing with fire” and “should be cautious”.

Related news | President Kovind rejects Nirbhaya rapist Pawan Gupta’s mercy plea

“One wrong move by anybody, and you know the consequences,” he added.

Pawan is the last convict to file the mercy plea, which is the final legal remedy available to a death-row convict.

Preparations are in place to hang the four of them, even though there has been one delay after another to put off the impending execution.

The courtyard that is used for executions in Delhi’s Tihar jail — which was earlier equipped to hang only two people at a time — has now been modified to conduct four hangings at the same time.

Bihar’s Buxar jail, which is the only jail in India that manufactures execution ropes, was asked to keep 10 ropes ready by December 14.

Mock hanging sessions were conducted using sandbags with the new ropes that were bought. The prison officials noted the convicts’ weights, and the sandbags were made accordingly.

A hangman from Meerut jail named Pawan Kumar is likely to be the executioner for the four Nirbhaya convicts.