Nirbhaya gangrape convicts to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am
January 07, 2020Death warrant for the hanging of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape-murder case has been issued by a Delhi Court on Tuesday. According to the Delhi Court, the four convicts will be hanged at 7 am on 22nd January, 2020. The Court has given 14 days for the convicts to exercise their legal remedies.
According to the convicts’ lawyer AP Singh, a curative petition would be filed in the Supreme Court. During the hearing, it was stated by the prosecution that there was no application pending before any court or the President right now, by any of the convicts and the review petition filed by all of the convicts in the case had been dismissed by the Supreme Court. The prosecution, while urging the Court to issue the death warrants, further stated that, “in between the issuance and execution of death warrants, if the convicts want to file curative petitions, they can do so.”
The Supreme Court had dismissed the review petition of Akshay Kumar Singh - one of the 4 death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case on 18th December, 2019. The pleas for review of the other three convicts - Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh were all dismissed back in July 2018.
Nirbhaya’s mother had earlier stated, “we are waiting for the court’s order on the execution of the death warrants. The convicts have no appeals pending now”. After the verdict she says, "my daughter has got justice. Execution of the convicts will empower the women in India.... January 22 is going to be a big day for me. The decision will strengthen the trust of people in judicial system"
The ghastly Nirbhaya gang rape took place on December 16, 2012. Five adult men, along with a juvenile brutally and repeatedly raped a 23 year old woman in a moving bus in Delhi. Not only this, she and her friend were also beaten with a metal bar before being dumped by the criminals on the road. The woman (later dubbed as Nirbhaya) succumbed to her injuries and died two weeks later. Four of the adults were sentenced to death, while the fifth had hanged himself in the prison itself.
LawRato.com, India’s leading legal advice platform has been helping Nirbhaya’s parents in their fight for making this country a safer place for women. We have provided them with experienced lawyers pro-Bono, and helped in raising awareness to ensure the Hon'ble Supreme Court fast-tracks the related hearings, and upholds the death sentence verdict of the lower courts.
For a detailed timeline on the Nirbhaya case, click here.