Nirbhaya Rape Convicts' Last-Minute Petition Against Hanging Dismissed

The courts have dismissed any last minute plea for the Nirbhaya convicts. Hours before hanging, 3 Nirbhaya convicts have moved Delhi High Court for stay on execution planned for 20th March 530 am. The convicts moved the higher court after the trial court in Delhi dismissed their petition for a freeze on the execution. But the Delhi HC has finally said with SC judgement confirming death sentence to four convicts, it cannot sit to review it.

The execution date of March 20th was fixed after repeated cancellations as the convicts tried every legal avenue to buy time. Two days ago, three of the four convicts had filed petitions asking for a freeze on the execution. Convicted in the horrific rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student Jyoti more than seven years ago, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh have been making all efforts to file a series of petitions after their first death warrant was issued on January 7.

There has been gross delay in filing mercy plea. Please tell some substantial legal point if you have, said Delhi HC to convicts' lawyer. Delhi HC says there is no foundation in plea filed by 3 death row convicts seeking stay on their execution.

The Background

Nirbhaya convicts will be hanged Friday 20th March at 5:30 AM. The decision came after a Delhi court dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the execution of the four convicts. This is the first time that four prisoners will be hanged together in South Asia’s largest prison complex- the Tihar Jail, which houses around 16,000 prisoners. “I will get peace tomorrow,” Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi told ANI

Key Takeaways:

• A 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped and brutally murdered,  including one juvenile in a moving bus in Delhi, back on December 16, 2012. 
• Four of Nirbhaya convicts – Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma will be hanged tomorrow after a Delhi Court rejected a plea seeking a stay on the execution.
• The fifth rapist killed himself in jail and the juvenile rapist was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term
• All the four rapists will be hanged tomorrow at 5:30 AM

This is the first time that four people will be hanged together in South Asia’s biggest prison complex- the Tihar Jail, which houses around 16,000 prisoners.