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Delhi High Court has said all convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case have to be hanged together .
It observed that Delhi prison rules do not state that if mercy petition of one convict is pending, the execution of the other convicts can take place.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait directed convicts to file any application which they want within one week after which authorities should act.
The high court dismissed the Centre’s plea challenging the trial court’s order staying the execution of the convicts.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case were misusing the law to delay their hanging and that the judgement should be implemented at the earliest.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences in the case and mercy petitions of convicts had been rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.
“The way the convicts are misusing the law to stop that (sentence), it is unfortunate. This is not right,” he said.
He said the government had gone to the Delhi High Court against the lower court order.
“We are very firm. Nirbhaya, who was the daughter of this country, should get justice. The death sentence should be carried out at the earliest,” he said.
