Breaking: Delhi Court stays execution of Nirbhaya convicts till further orders

A Delhi Court today stayed the execution of Nirbhaya convicts till further orders. Thus, no execution will take place tomorrow.

"Execution is postponed till further orders", Judge Dharmender Rana said.

The execution has been deferred in view of the pendency of Vinay's mercy plea before the President.

The Court stated,

The order was passed by the Court while disposing of the stay application filed by all four convicts in view of the pendency of convict Vinay's mercy petition before the President.

Counsel for three of the convicts - Vinay, Pawana and Akshay - AP Singh had sought stay of the execution sine die to enable them to avail all their legal remedies.

Counsel for Mukesh, Vrinda Grover contended that in view of Vinay's mercy petition, execution order could not be carried out qua other convicts as well. She stated that in case Vinay's mercy is decided favourably, it would be enable Mukesh as well to file another mercy plea.

Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed opposed the application of stay and argued that it was not maintainable under the Delhi Prison Rules. He submitted that since Vinay's mercy is pending, only his execution could be stayed. As far as remaining convicts are concerned, the order was enforceable and they could be hanged on February 1, Ahmed said.

Advocates for Nirbhaya's parents, Jitendra Jha and Seema Kushwaha urged the Court to prevent further manipulation of law by the convicts.

It was also argued that since the plea was filed beyond the statutorily provided period of seven days, the Court had no jurisdiction to stay the execution order and the same rested with the Delhi Government.

After hearing the parties, the Court opined that it did not agree with the contention that the jurisdiction to stay the death warrant rested with the Delhi Government.

The Court further perused Rules 836, 850 and 854 of the Delhi Prison Rule and opined that it had "no hesitation" in postponing the death warrant qua Vinay in view of the pendency of his mercy plea before the President.

As far as the case of other convicts was concerned, the Court added that seconnd proviso to Rule 836 specifically provided that in case the appeal or application by one is pending, the execution of sentence shall be postponed in case of all.

In view of the above, the Court deemed it approporiate to postpone the execution of warrants till further orders.

On January 7, 2020, the Court had issued death warrant against the four convicts, namely Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay and Akshay for January 22, 2020.

A second death warrant for February 1 was issued by the Court on January 17 after Mukesh's mercy petition was rejected by the President of India. Yesterday, Akshay's curative petition was also dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Read the Order: