'Hope courts reject pleas & hang convicts on March 3': Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi

The Supreme Court on Monday is scheduled to hear one of the four convicts Pawan Kumar Gupta’s curative plea 2012 gang rape and murder case. Still expressing confidence in the Indian judicial system despite having seen the convicts using the law to their advantage, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi has said that she expects the convict’s plea to be rejected.

Asha Devi said: “Today their petition is expected to be rejected in the Supreme Court. The case is been going on for quite some time, since 2014, either through SLP (Special Leave Petition), or curative petition or in the form of a review petition. The case is as clear as mirror. Patiala Court is also hearing the case. The death warrant is of tomorrow. Expecting that the death warrant shouldn’t be postponed and they are hanged tomorrow.”

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“They are using the loopholes of the judicial system to the best of their advantage. Now it is for the courts to see how long the verdict pronounced by them gets postponed due to these loopholes. If this continues, people will lose faith in the law. Everyone says what is their family's fault. Forgive them for the sake of their families, then someone tells me what was the fault of my daughter. They committed the crime then and now seeking forgiveness for their families,” she added.

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Convict Pawan Gupta had on Friday filed a curative petition before the apex court seeking to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. He is the fourth convict in the case to file a curative petition. The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the other three convicts. 

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Extention of death warrants

This move was followed after death warrant was issued for the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh, and are slated to be hanged at 6 am on March 3 at Delhi's Tihar Jail. This is the third death warrant issued. Previously, the Patiala House Court had set an execution date on January 22 and later extended it to February 1.

The Nirbhaya Case

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six people on December 16 in 2012 in the antional capital. The victim was heinously mutilated and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later, with the entire nation praying for her, by way of mass demonstrations and candle-light marches.

READ | Nirbhaya Case: Convict Akshay Moves Delhi Court Seeking Stay On Execution For All Convicts