Delhi court dismisses petition to persuade Nirbhaya convicts to donate organs

A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the plea seeking permission to meet all four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case in Tihar Jail to convey to them regarding organ donation. The plea was filed almost two weeks ago before the four convicts are scheduled to be executed. The plea was not moved by the convicts or their families but by an NGO called Road Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO).

Additional Judge of Patiala House Court Satish Kumar Arora while dismissing the plea stated, "I am of the view that applicant has no locus to meet the convicts whatever reason, therefore, jail authority cannot be directed for any compliance." During the course of proceedings, Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmad opposed the plea stating that it is 'legally not sustainable'. "After issuance of the death warrant, only family members and lawyers can meet them in jail, no stranger can meet in jail and this NGO has no locus in this matter," he said. 

The plea was filed to "motivate convicts" to donate their organs

On Thursday, NGO RACO's founding member Rahul Kapoor while talking about the petition said, "On behalf of NGO RACO, I have moved an application in Delhi's Patiala House Court seeking permission to meet Nirbhaya Case convicts to motivate them to donate their organs. In December 2019, we made a representation before jail authorities who asked us to take orders from the court."

Second curative petition against death sentence filed

A second curative petition against the death sentence awarded to the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday. The petition was filed on behalf of death row convict Mukesh Kumar, one of the four men sentenced to death in the case. Earlier on Thursday, Vinay Kumar Sharma had filed a curative petition in the apex court. A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict.

READ | Nirbhaya rape & murder case: One convict files curative petition in SC days before hanging

READ | Nirbhaya case: After Vinay Kumar Sharma, Mukesh Kumar moves curative plea in SC

On Tuesday, a Delhi court issued death warrants against Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and said they will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. On July 9, 2018, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.

READ | Nirbhaya case: NGO files petition in Delhi court seeking organ donation by convicts

READ | Lucknow ADG: 'Pawan Kumar will be the hangman for Nirbhaya's rapists'

(with ANI inputs)