Suspense continues on the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case being put off for the second time. Forty hours before they were to go to the gallows on February 1, the lawyer of two of them rushed to a city court on Thursday to seek stay of the execution of the death warrant.
Patiala House Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain gave a special hearing in the afternoon and issued notice to the Tihar Jail authorities to respond by 10 AM on Friday.
The lawyer wanted the court to adjourn the executions sine die as it can be done only after the convicts have availed all the legal remedies available to them under the law.
Moving the court on behalf of Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25), advocate A P Singh referred to the prison rules that require a notice of minimum 14 days after the rejection of the mercy petition. This rule was used to put off the first warrant for hanging on January 22.
The lawyer also quoted a Delhi Prison rule that says none of the convicts in the same crime can be hanged till the last convict has exhausted all his legal options, including the mercy petition to the President. The stay of execution is sought on the ground that both the convicts have not yet exhausted all the remedies as they are yet to file their mercy petitions to the President of India while no decision has yet come on the presidential pardon sought by Vinay Kumar Sharma(26) Wednesday.
If all these pleas fail, the lawyer has kept in reserve another case of looting and abduction in which the four convicts have been sentenced to 10 years of jail and an appeal against it is pending before Delhi High Court. He said the accused cannot be hanged until the High Court decides the case.
