Nirbhaya Case : SC Adjourns Hearing Of Centre's Appeal Against Stay On Executions Till Feb 11 [Read Order]
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till February 11 the hearing of Centre's plea challenging the Delhi High Court's refusal to set aside the trial court's stay on the execution of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder case.A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna noted that the High Court had given one week time for the convicts to exhaust remaining...
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till February 11 the hearing of Centre's plea challenging the Delhi High Court's refusal to set aside the trial court's stay on the execution of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder case.
A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna noted that the High Court had given one week time for the convicts to exhaust remaining legal remedies against the execution. Since the time is expiring on February 11, the bench said that it will hear the petition on that day at 2 PM.
This was after the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stressed that the matter involved a point of law, which had to be settled authoritatively. The pendency of a mercy petition by a co-convict cannot be a reason to defer the executions of other convicts in the same case, whose legal remedies have been exhausted, argued Centre in the petition before the SC.
The SC however turned down the Solicitor General's request for issuance of notices to the convicts.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pronounced its verdict in an appeal by the Centre challenging a trial court order which had stayed the death warrant of all four convicts till further orders, who were to be executed on February 1, in light of two of them having certain legal remedies available to them. Alleging delay tactics being employed by the convicts, the government had urged that two of the convicts who had exhausted all legal remedies could be executed separately. Noting the delay, Justice Suresh Kait however refused to allow this argument and stated that the law laid down by the Apex court necessitated all of them to be hung together. Further, the convicts have been directed to avail all legal options available before them within 7 days.
The Centre reacted with great speed in moving the top court against the High court decision which was pronounced around 2.35pm on February 5. At 4.12pm the SLP had been filed, in anticipation of the order, even before the copy of the same was officially published.
Mukesh Kumar and Vinay Sharma have both filed mercy petitions, which have been rejected by the President. In this light, the government has urged the apex court to allow them to be hanged separately. Akshay Singh has filed his mercy plea before the President, soon after his curative petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court. Pawan Gupta had filed an appeal regarding his claim of juvenility at the time of the incident. This has been rejected along with a review petition against the same. Pawan also has the remedy of filing curative petition against conviction, after which there is the option of filing a mercy plea as well.
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