7 years after Nirbhaya's death, 4 convicts to hang on January 22 at 7 am

Seven years after the ghastly rape of paramedical student, Nirbhaya, in New Delhi, a Delhi court on Tuesday (January 7) issued death warrant to the four convicts — Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh. They will be hanged at 7 am on January 22, the court said.

The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora who issued the death warrants against the four death row convicts. The court said the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days.

During the hearing, the prosecution said there was no application pending before any court or the President right now by any of the convicts and the review petition of all the convicts was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

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While urging the court to issue the death warrants, the prosecution said, “In between issuance and execution of death warrants of the convicts want to file curative petitions they can do so.” The counsel for two of the convicts – Mukesh and Vinay – said they were in the process of filing curative petition in the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the issuance of the death warrant, Nirbhaya’s mother said, “The order will restore faith of women in law.” She said January 22 will be a big day for her when the convicts are hanged. “I am happy with the court’s decision. This will instil fear in people who commit such crimes,” said Nirbhaya’s father.

AP Singh, lawyer of the convicts, said a curative petition will be filed in the Supreme Court. “We will file curative petition in Supreme Court within a day or two. Five senior most judges of the top court will hear it. There has been pressure of media, public, and political pressure in this case since beginning. Unbiased probe could not take place in this case,” he said.

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Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal said it was a victory for all the “Nirbhayas” of the country. “Strongly welcome this decision. It is a win for all the ‘Nirbhayas’ living in this country. I salute Nirbhaya’s parents who fought for seven long years. Why has it taken seven years to punish these people? Why can’t this time period be reduced?” she asked.

The trial court had earlier directed Tihar jail authorities to seek within a week response from the four death row convicts as to whether they were filing mercy pleas against their executions with the President of India. It was hearing the applications moved by Nirbhaya’s parents and the prosecution (Delhi government) seeking issuance of death warrant against the convict.

The Supreme Court on December 18 had dismissed the plea of Akshay seeking review of its decision, saying review petition is not “re-hearing of appeal over and over again” and it had already considered the mitigating and aggravating circumstances while upholding the death penalty.

Also read | Complaint filed against victim’s male friend in Nirbhaya gang rape case

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

On July 9 last year, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict. One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term. The top court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.