(Image source from: english.manoramaonline.com)

The government of Delhi has moved a city court on Wednesday as it has been seeking a fresh date for the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang- rape and murder case which has taken place in the year 2012. This has been done after Ram Nath Kovid who is the President of India has rejected the last mercy plea that has been remaining in the case.

According to the Delhi Prison Rules, a death row convict should be given a fourteen day period after the dismissal of a clemency plea prior to the hanging of the prisoner. It has been said that all the four men would be hanged together.

It has been said by an official of the Union home ministry that the mercy petition that has been filed by 25- year- old Pawan Kumar Gupta who is one among the four convicts of the Delhi gang- rape and murder case, has been rejected by the President Ram Nath Kovind.

The governmenmt of Delhi has told Dharmendra Rana who is the Additional Sessions Judge that all the legal remedies of the convicts have been exhausted and there is nothing left that can be legally done by the prisoners. The convicts have been then directed by the judge for filing their response by tomorrow even as it has been said by the lawyer for the persecution that there was no requirement of a notice.

As the notice was being issued, it has been said by the court that the principles of natural justice are a part of the Article 21 of the Constitution which is regarding right to life and personal liberty and also the sacrosanct principle of “Audi alteram partem” which says that the other side should also be listened, cannot be ignored.

The hanging of the four convicts of the Delhi gang- rape and murder case that has taken place in the year 2012 namely Mukesh Kumar Singh of 32 years of age, Vinay Sharma of 26 years old and Akshay Kumar Singh of 31 years old besides Pawan Kumar Gupta has been previously scheduled for the 3rd of March and it has been deferred by the court for the third time in six weeks. The mercy pleas that has been filed by the three convicts Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh other than Pawan Kumar Gupta had been rejected by the President Ram Nath Kovind.

The hanging of the four convicts has been postponed till further orders, by the court on Monday.

The first date of execution of the four convicts had been scheduled on the 22nd of January and it has later been postponed by the court to the 1st of February but the hanging has been indefinitely postponed by the court on the 31st of January. A fresh date for the execution of the death warrants has been issued by the court on the 17th of February and it has been scheduled for the 3rd of March at 6 during the early hours of the day.

The Nirbhaya case is about a gang- rape and murder case that has shook the country in the year 2012. this incident has been taken place in Delhi where a young woman of 23 years old has been gang- raped and tortured in a moving bus and was thrown out of the bus in the streets of Delhi. She had died in a hospital in Singapore.

By Shrithika Kushangi