Today Delhi court said that “All four men convicted of the gang-rape and murder of a young Delhi woman in 2012 will hang tomorrow morning as decided. The Patiala House Court rejected all petitions of the convicts, Akshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32, who are to hang at 5.30 am on Friday”.
The convicts had requested that their execution be stopped, claiming that they still had legal remedies left.
Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmad told to court that “No legal remedies are pending as of now. Pawan and Akshay’s second mercy was also not entertained by the President of India”.
He further said that “My friend can move 100 applications, but these are not strictly legal remedies”. There was much drama outside the court when a convict’s wife, who has sought a divorce, fainted outside the Patiala House court complex.
In another manoeuvre to delay the death sentence, three death-row convicts, represented by advocate AP Singh, had petitioned the court saying their legal remedies were pending.
The Supreme Court also dismissed a petition filed by Mukesh Singh challenging a Delhi High Court’s order rejecting his claim that he was not in Delhi when the crime was committed. Three previous dates of hanging passed as the convicts filed petition after petition to stall their execution.
On December 16, 2012, a 23 year old girl was brutally raped and tortured in a moving bus and dumped on the road, by six people including a juvenile. The woman died a few days later.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts, challenging the Delhi High Court’s rejection of his claim that he was not in Delhi when the crime was committed on December 16, 2012. The high court on Wednesday said there were no grounds to interfere in the detailed and reasoned order of the trial court. Following this, Mukesh filed an appeal in the Supreme Court Thursday morning seeking an urgent hearing on his plea. The court has agreed and will hear the plea at 2:30 pm.
