Nirbhaya Convicts to Be Hanged on 3rd March at 6 am

One more date has been fixed to hang the four convicts, who have been given the death penalty for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi more than eight years ago. They will be hanged on 3rd March 2020 at 6 am. This time it is the 3rd death warrant issued by the court. On two earlier occasions, the warrant could not be carried out as the convicts took turns to use every legal option available to them. 

The latest death warrant was issued by a Delhi court after the authorities in Tihar jail informed the trial court that three out of the four convicts namely Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh have exhausted all the legal options available to them and none have any correspondence pending at the moment.

Still, this spares one convict who has not yet filed a curative petition or mercy plea to the President. But all of them have exhausted the one-week time, which was allotted to them by the High Court to exercise all their legal option.

Mother of Nirbhaya said she is very happy with the decision of the court, now “I hope this will be the final date for hanging.”

Nirbhaya’s parents have been carrying out a spirited fight for justice for 8 years now. They filed an appeal in the trial court for a fresh death warrant, after a week allowed by the High Court to the convicts to explore all legal means came to an end.

After constant efforts by the convicts to delay the execution using all legal means, the High Court finally said they would get only a week's time to explore all legal remedies available to them.

After the Supreme Court turned down the petition challenging President Ram Nath Kovind’s rejection of his mercy plea last week, one of the convicts Vinay Sharma started hunger strike inside the Tihar Jail.

The convict had also claimed that the President had not reviewed his state of mental illness following torture inside the jail for years. The centre had produced a medical report dated 12th February, which shows he is mentally sound.

Along with two others including a minor, the four convicts had gang-raped the young medical student and tortured her with an iron rod on the night of December 16, 2012. 13 days later on December 29, she died at a hospital in Singapore.

One of the assailants, who was just a few months short of 18 years when the crime was committed was released after he spent three years at a reform home. Ram Singh, the main accused of the incident was found hanging inside the jail.

The brutality of the attack on the woman was such that outraged the whole nation, bringing thousands on the streets in protest against the system that finally led to key changes in the law and security system. Still, the convicts managed to delay the proceedings using the same law. Now as a day has been fixed, along with Nirbhaya’s parents, the whole nation is praying so that Nirbhaya gets justice.