Nirbhaya's mother 'hopeful' of justice after Delhi HC issues notice to Tihar and convicts

After hearing the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) plea challenging the indefinite stay on the hanging of the Nirbhaya convicts, the Delhi High Court on Saturday issued a notice to Tihar jail officials and the four convicts - Akshay, Pawan, Vinay and Mukesh. Meanwhile, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Sunday expressed hope that the High Court will issue order in her favour.

Calling out the culprits and their lawyers for playing with the law, Asha Devi said, " There hanging was delayed by just 12 hours. I cannot say anything until the hanging is done. I hope the HC issues the order in our favor. They are just playing with the law and misusing it by trying to cause a delay on purpose."

READ | Nirbhaya's mother on the case: 'This is not just a challenge for me but for entire system'

Delay in execution

On Saturday, Tihar Jail authorities approached the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court's order. MHA, along with Tihar jail, mentions that the convicts by filing their review, curative and mercy petition, one after the other are unnecessarily delaying the execution process.

This development comes amidst the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the Centre's plea seeking ‘victim and society centric’ guidelines to prevent delay in the execution of convicts. The Centre has appealed to the apex court to set guidelines as the process is often misused by the convict to prolong the day of execution. The previous date of execution in the Nirbhaya rape case was on February 1. Meanwhile, Akshay Thakur, one of the convicts has filed a mercy petition on Saturday. 

Earlier on Friday, the Patiala House Court deferred the execution of all the 4 convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case until further orders. This development comes a few hours after the Supreme Court dismissed the review plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta, a convict in the Nirbhaya case, against the apex court's verdict on whether he was a juvenile at the time of committing the crime. On Thursday, the curative plea of another Nirbhaya convict Akshay was dismissed by the apex court. 

READ | Nirbhaya convicts issued notice by Del HC on plea against execution stay, hearing on Feb 2

READ | Nirbhaya convict Akshay Thakur seeks President's pardon after indefinite stay on execution