Bihar court defers hearing divorce plea of Nirbhaya rapist Akshay's wife, ahead of hanging

A Bihar court on Thursday deferred the hearing on the divorce petition of Nirbhaya convict Akshay Singh. The wife of the convict had on Wednesday filed a divorce petition before court in Bihar's Aurangabad district. She has claimed that she doesn't wish to live with the label of being "a rapist's widow". 

Her 'husband', on the other hand, had filed a second mercy petition - seeking commutation of his death sentence. All four rapists have also moved the Patiala House Court - seeking a stay on the execution. The Judge on Thursday has reserved the order and will be pronounced at 2:30 pm.

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Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition filed by convict Pawan Kumar Gupta challenging the dismissal of his claim of juvenility at the time of the offence. A six judge bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna heard the petition and dismissed the same as being devoid of merits.

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Nirbhaya court proceedings

The mercy petitions and curative petitions of all four convicts -Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Kumar and Pawan Gupta have already been dismissed by the President and Supreme Court respectively. The Patiala House Court had ordered that the convicts be hanged on March 20 at 5:30 AM after issuing fresh death warrants which is the fourth such date after the previous three dates- January 17, January 31 and March 3 were deferred by petitions filed by the convicts. The convicts are still employing several delay tactics - petitioning for review of the rejection of mercy amid new plea, action against former advocate for the restoration of his legal remedies, stay on execution, criminal conspiracy, moving the International Court of Justice etc.

READ | Nirbhaya Convict Akshay's Wife Files For Divorce As He Files 2nd Mercy Plea Before Hanging

What is the Nirbhaya case? 

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16, 2012, in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one reportedly committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed the death penalty by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017. 

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