New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted a week's time to the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case to avail all legal remedies available to them.
Also Read: President rejects second Nirbhaya convict's mercy plea
A single-judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said that the proceedings against them for the execution of death warrant will be initiated after a week.
The High Court observed that according to Delhi prison rules if a mercy petition is submitted, a 14 days period has to be given after the dismissal of the mercy plea.
2012 Delhi gang-rape case: Delhi High Court gives all 4 convicts one week to resort to all legal remedies available to them. Post one week, the proceedings against them for the execution of death warrant will be initiated.
— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2020
The death warrant against all four convicts cannot be executed separately, it said.
The High Court also dismissed the petition filed by the central government and Tihar jail authorities challenging the Patiala House Court's order which had stayed the execution of the convicts in the matter.
2012 Delhi gang-rape case: Delhi High Court observes that Delhi prison rules do not state that if mercy petition of one convict is pending, the execution of the other convicts can take place pic.twitter.com/4GFfoU9Mhe
— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2020
The court had on Sunday reserved its order in the matter after hearing arguments from all the sides.
A Delhi court had earlier stayed till further orders the execution of the four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.
Also Read: Nirbhaya death row convicts move Delhi court seeking stay on executions
The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutal murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people, including a juvenile, in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.
One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case. (ANI)
