HC Refuses To Stay Death Warrant Against Nirbhaya Case Convict; Gives Liberty To Move Sessions Court

A division bench of the court presided by Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Saihgal asked counsel of the petitioner Mukesh to approach the trail court and apprise the trial court about the new developments that have taken place recently after the January 7 order.

Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts, clockwise from top left, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain mercy petition filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, against the death warrant issued by the trial court even as the Delhi government said that four convicts 'cannot be hanged' on January 22 as the mercy petition filed by Singh is pending. A division bench of the court presided by Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Saihgal asked counsel of the petitioner Mukesh to approach the trial court and apprise the trial court about the new developments that have taken place recently after the January 7 order. "Apprise the trial court about the mercy plea pending," the bench said. Advocates Rebecca John and Vrinda Grover appearing for Mukesh showed their agreement to the observation and said that they are approaching the Patiala House Court very soon.

#NirbhayaCase : In HC, Delhi govt says execution will not happen on January 22 as mercy plea has been filed. https://t.co/PQbT45sMtv

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The four convicts -- Mukesh (32) Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7. The bench was informed by the Delhi government and the Centre that the petition filed by Mukesh, challenging his death warrant, was premature. The Delhi government and the prison authorities said that under the rules, they will have to wait for the mercy plea to be decided before executing the death warrant. They also said that none of the four convicts can be executed on January 22 unless the present mercy plea is decided. In response to the submission by prison authorities, the court said "put your house in order". "Your house is in disarray. The problem is people will lose confidence in the system. Things are not moving in the right direction. The system is capable of being exploited and we see a stratagem to exploit the system, which is oblivious about it," the court said. ALSO WATCH | Nirbhaya case: Convicts will not be hanged on January 22 The Supreme Court had on Tuesday dismissed the curative pleas of Mukesh and Vinay. During the hearing Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra told the bench that now that one of them has filed a mercy plea, the execution of none of the four can be carried out as per the Prison Rules. He said that since Mukesh has moved a mercy plea, as per the rules they have to wait for the other co-convicts to exhaust their mercy pleas as well. To this the bench said, "Then your rule is bad if you cannot take action till all the co-convicts have moved mercy plea. There has been no application of mind. The system is suffering from cancer." In defence of prison authorities, Mehra said the convicts were "frustrating" the legal process and system as they were filing curative and mercy pleas in stages to further delay their execution. Mehra, said the date of January 22 for execution was "academic", as if no decision is taken till noon of January 21 on the mercy plea, then prison authorities have to move the sessions court for a fresh death warrant. "If mercy plea is rejected before or after January 22, then also a fresh death warrant has to be sought from trial court in respect of all the convicts," he said. Apart from pulling up the prison authorities, the court expressed displeasure at the delay in filing curative and mercy pleas by Mukesh after the Supreme Court in May 2017 dismissed the appeals of the four convicts against their conviction and death sentence. The prison authorities had only on October 29 and December 18 last year issued notices to the convicts to move their mercy pleas. Mehra told the bench the delay was due to the reason that one of the convicts -- Akshay -- had not filed his review plea till 2019 and it was dismissed only on December 18. The review pleas of other three had been dismissed in July 2018. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail. (With inputs from PTI)