Delhi Court stays execution of Nirbhaya gangrape convicts till further order

New Delhi: Just a day before Nirbhaya convicts were scheduled to be hanged, the Delhi Court on Monday (March 2, 2020) stayed the execution of the 4 convicts and deferred the matter for further orders. 

The court's decision came as one of the four convicts Pawan Gupta had approached the top court on Sunday seeking a direction that his plea should be heard in an open court. The convict's lawyer AP Singh submitted this plea as the matter is related to the death penalty. 

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta.

Reacting to the court's order, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said that the continuous delay in execution shows the failure of our system. She said,  ''Repeated postponing of the execution shows the failure of our system. Our entire system supports criminals.'' It is the third time that the hanging of the four convicts has been deferred.

Pawan Kumar Gupta had filed both curative and mercy petition before the hanging. The Supreme Court dismissed his curative petition on Monday but President Ram Nath Kovind is yet to take a decision over his mercy plea.

Earlier, the apex court has already rejected the curative petitions of the three other convicts. 

The court had on February 17 had issued a fresh death warrant for the four convicts - Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31) - be hanged on March 3. 

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in the national capital in December 2012. Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused.