The trial court on January 31, had stayed “till further orders”, execution of the four convicts in the case who are lodged in Tihar jail. (File)
A Delhi court Friday dismissed a fresh plea by Tihar jail authorities seeking a fresh date for the execution of the four death row convicts in the December 16, 2012, Delhi gangrape case.
Citing the Delhi High Court’s February 5 order, which permitted them to exercise their legal remedies within seven days, the court observed that it was “criminally sinful” to execute the convicts when the law permits them to live. It added that authorities concerned will act as per law after the deadline.
“I concur with counsel for convicts that death warrants cannot be executed merely on the basis of surmises and conjectures. The application is bereft of merit. Same is dismissed. The state is at liberty to move appropriate application as and when required,” said Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana.
Last week, the trial court had stayed “till further orders” the execution of the four convicts—Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31), who are lodged in Tihar Jail.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is likely to hear the Centre’s plea challenging the Delhi HC order rejecting its plea to executive the convicts separately and upholding the stay on their execution. The High Court had said that the death warrant be commuted together, as the convicts of the same crime cannot be hanged separately.
With the convicts constantly seeking legal remedies delaying the execution, the Centre had last week told the High Court that “there is a deliberate, calculated, well-thought of design to frustrate the process of law.”
The case dates back to December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old woman was gangraped and assaulted inside a moving bus in South Delhi by six persons, before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012 at a hospital in Singapore.
(with PTI inputs)