Nirbhaya case: Centre slams 'exploitation of judicial process' as court stays execution

After the stay on Hanging in Nirbhaya's rapists, Union Home Minister (MoS) G Kishan Reddy, on Friday, slammed the exploitation of the judicial process by the convicts. He said that there should be a debate on these tactics used by the criminals convicted of heinous crimes. This development comes amidst the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the Centre's plea seeking ‘victim and society centric’ guidelines to prevent delay in the execution of convicts.

Centre slams 'exploitation of judicial process'

"There is a need to debate on how convicts of heinous crimes are delaying the death penalty even after the Supreme Court order by exploiting the judicial process," he said. The Centre has appealed to the apex court to set guidelines as the process is often misused by the convict to prolong the day of execution. The previous date of execution in the Nirbhaya rape case was on February 1.

Execution of Nirbhaya's rapists stayed till further orders; no hanging at 6 am on Feb 1

Execution delayed

Earlier in the day, the Patiala House Court deferred the execution of all the 4 convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case until further orders.  This development comes a few hours after the Supreme Court dismissed the review plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta, a convict in the Nirbhaya case against the apex court's verdict on whether he was a juvenile at the time of committing the crime. On Thursday, the curative plea of another Nirbhaya convict Akshay was dismissed by the apex court.

Nirbhaya case: Jallad Pawan Kumar reports at Tihar jail, two days prior to Feb 1 execution

Nirbhaya case proceedings

Currently, SC has rejected all convicts review petition while the president has rejected one convicts' mercy plea. The Supreme Court has rejected three convicts' curative petition, while one is yet to file curative petitions. The Jallad (executioner) Pawan Kumar has already reported to  Tihar Jail and performed a dummy execution after the Patiala House court set an execution date on  January 22 and later extended it to February 1.

Nirbhaya rapists' jail diary reeks of depravity; filled with horrific sketches, lewd poems

The Nirbhaya case

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16, 2012, in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one reportedly committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed the death penalty by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017. 

Supreme Court dismisses review plea of Nirbhaya convict challenging juvenility verdict