Nirbhaya convicts to be hanged at 5:30 am on March 20: Delhi court

The four death-row convicts of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case will be executed at 5:30 am on March 20, said a Delhi court on Thursday (March 5) as it issued a fresh death warrant in this regard.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana fixed March 20 as the new date of execution after it was told by the Delhi government that the convicts have exhausted all their legal remedies. The lawyer for the four death row convicts also told the court that there was no legal impediment for court in proceeding to fix the date of execution.

This is the fourth death warrant issued by the court in this case. It comes a day after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of convict Pawan Gupta. The four convicts to be executed on March 20 are Mukesh Kumar Singh, 32; Pawan Gupta, 25; Vinay Kumar Sharma, 26; and Akshay Kumar, 31.

Reacting to the issuance of the death warrant, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said the struggle will be on till the time the convicts are not hanged. “The morning of March 20 will be morning of our life,” she said.

“While dying, Nirbhaya asked to ensure they get such punishment that such crime is not repeated ever, she added. She also expressed her wish to see the hanging of the four convicts if there was any chance.

Related news: ‘Meet Creator with no grievances’: Why Nirbhaya rapists’ hanging stayed?

Besides, two other persons — Ram Singh and a juvenile — were convicted in the gang rape case. While Ram Singh had committed suicide in jail, the juvenile was released from a remand home after completion of his three-year term.

The case pertains to the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya (‘The Fearless’), in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore where she was taken for better medical treatment.

(With inputs from agencies)