The convicts of the Nirbhaya gangrape will get to live longer as the Patiala House Court has deferred their hanging.
Bengaluru: The convicts of the Nirbhaya gangrape will get to live longer as the Patiala House Court has deferred their hanging.
The hanging was to take place on March 3 at 6am.
Earlier in the day, the court dismissed the plea by other convicts to stay their hanging.
But in the afternoon, as it learnt that Pawan Gupta has filed a mercy petition before Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, and the file is with the home ministry, the court deferred the hanging.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta.
The mercy petitions of three convicts -Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Kumar have already been dismissed by the President. All convicts’ curative petitions too have been dismissed by the Supreme Court. On February 17, the Patiala House Court had ordered that the convicts be hanged on March 3 after issuing fresh death warrants. This is the third such date after the previous two - January 17 and January 31 were deferred by petitions filed by the convicts.
Nirbhaya’s mother, again aghast at what has happened said, “I lose hope every day but the convicts will be hanged no matter what they do.”
Nirbhaya was raped on a moving bus in the year 2012 while she was travelling along with her male friend.
Out of the six convicts, one committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed the death penalty by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017.
The end may have been prolonged but certainly not evaded permanently.
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