Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking donation of organs of Nirbhaya rapists

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition which sought to direct the government or the Tihar jail authorities to give an option to the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case to donate organs for medical research. 

The court dismissed the plea and told the petitioner, former judge MF Saldana to have a human approach. "To execute a person is the saddest part for the family. You (petitioner) want their body to cut into pieces... have some human approach." 

READ: Patiala House Court Reserves Order On Plea To Stay Execution Of Nirbhaya Convicts

Hanging deferred

The Patiala House Court on Monday deferred the hanging of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case till further notice. Earlier in the day, the court had dismissed the plea seeking a stay on the execution sought by the convicts Akshay Singh and Pawan Kumar Gupta. Subsequently, Pawan Gupta filed a mercy plea before President Ram Nath Kovind, which has been received by the Home Ministry. Upon hearing the case again, the court deferred the hanging which was scheduled to take place on March 3 - Tuesday, at 6 AM.

READ: Supreme Court Dismisses Fourth And Last Curative Petition Filed By Nirbhaya Rapists

Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court had also dismissed the fourth and final curative petition filed by Gupta, seeking to stay the execution. 

The mercy petitions of three convicts -- Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Kumar Sharma, and Akshay Kumar -- have already been dismissed by the President. Pawan Gupta was the last to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court.

READ: 'I Have Full Faith In Legal System' Nirbhaya's Mother After Court Denies Stay On Execution

On February 17, the Patiala House Court had ordered that the convicts be hanged on March 3 after issuing fresh death warrants. This is the third such date after the previous two - January 22 and February 1 were deferred due to various delay tactics by the convicts, who have made full use of the apparent precondition that they must all be hanged together, which has also been challenged by the MHA in an ongoing matter.

READ: Nirbhaya Case: MHA Receives Mercy Petition Of Death Row Convict Pawan Gupta