New Delhi: A Delhi court Thursday sought by Friday the response of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case on the plea of Tihar jail authorities seeking issuance of fresh death warrants against them.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana directed the convicts to file their response by Friday on the application moved by Tihar authorities.
The trial court had January 31 stayed ‘till further orders’ execution of the four convicts in the case – Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31), who are lodged in Tihar jail.
In its application, the authorities state the President has already dismissed the mercy petitions of three convicts and that no application by any of the four is currently pending before any court.
Pawan has not yet filed a curative petition – the last and final legal remedy available to a person which is decided in-chamber. Pawan also has the option of filing a mercy plea.
The authorities also informed the court about Delhi High Court’s February 5 order which directed the convicts to take steps within a week, if they wished, to avail any remedy available under the law.
“It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that, keeping in view a week’s time given to the convicts by high court, the fresh dates for execution of death warrants… may kindly be fixed specifying the date and time for execution/ hanging of convicts Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh and Akshay in the interest of justice,” the application said.
The warrants, issued by the trial court January 7, were later postponed ‘sine die’ by it January 31, giving the condemned prisoners a reprieve for the second time in two weeks.
The date of execution, first fixed for January 22 in Tihar jail, was later postponed for 6.00am February 1 by a January 17 court order.
PTI