Picture : Twitter / ANI
Delhi court has issued fresh death warrants for February 1, 6 am against the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
The mother of the gang rape victim expressed her anguish due to the continuous changes of dates of hanging of the convicts when she said : Jo mujrim chahte the vahi ho raha hai…tareek pe tareek, tareek pe tareek. Humara system aisa hai ki jahan convict ki suni jaati hai.
Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora was hearing a plea by one of the four death row convicts in the case, Mukesh Kumar Singh, seeking postponement of the date of his execution scheduled for January 22.
Earlier in the day, the Tihar jail authorities sought issuance of fresh death warrants against the four convicts.
Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed told the court that Mukesh’s mercy plea was rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday.
The rejection came soon after the Union home ministry forwarded the petition to the president on Friday morning.
“It’s a very good thing. Our hopes have gone up after the disheartening news that the execution might be delayed,” the 23-year-old paramedic’s father said as news came in of the rejection.
Mukesh had filed his mercy petition two days ago.
The four convicts — Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta — were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar Jail, a Delhi court had announced on January 7 while issuing their death warrants.
However, the Delhi government informed the high court during a hearing that the execution of the convicts will not take place on the day as a mercy plea had been filed by Mukesh.
“The home ministry has forwarded the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh to the President. The ministry has reiterated the recommendation of the lieutenant governor of Delhi for its rejection,” a home ministry official said on Friday morning.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office sent Mukesh Singh’s mercy petition to the Home Ministry on Thursday, a day after the Delhi government recommended its rejection.
