Criminally sinful to execute condemned convicts when law permits them to live: Delhi Court refuses to fix execution date for Nirbhaya convicts

The Court has clarified that the State is at liberty to move appropriate application as and when required.

Patiala House Court

Published on:

07 Feb 2020, 2:47 pm

2 min read

The Court of Additional Sessions Court at Patiala House Court today dismissed Tihar Jail Superintendent's plea for a date for execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case.

Calling the application premature, Judge Dharmender Rana ordered,

It is criminally sinful to execute the condemned convicts when the law permits them to live. Admittedly, Hon'ble Delhi High court vide order dated 05.02.2020 has permitted the convicts, in the ineterst of justice, to exercise their legal remedies within one week of the said order.. Applications at hand are premature and thus deserves to be dismissed."

Judge Dharmender Rana

The Court has nonetheless clarified that the State is at liberty to move appropriate application as and when required.

Tihar Jail Authorities had moved the Court under Section 413 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking a date for execution of the four Nirbhaya convicts.

It was submitted that since mercy petitions preferred by convicts, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay had already been rejected by the President and convict Pawan had not filed any such plea, there were no legal proceedings pending before any Court or constitutional authority.

Appearing through Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed, it was thus argued that the Trial Court was free to issue a specific date and time for executing the death warrant against the four convicts.

Tihar Jail's stance was supported by the counsel for Nirbhaya's parents, Advocates Jitendra Jha and Seema Kushwaha who urged the Court to not allow further delay.

Appearing for convict Mukesh, Advocate Vrinda Grover contended that in view of the Delhi High Court order granting seven days' time to all the convicts to exhaust their legal remedies, the application was premature.

She argued that to fix a date for execution at this stage, the Court would not only have to presume that convicts were not going to exercise their legal remedies but also assume that the President was going to decide in a particular manner.

Appearing for the other three convicts, Advocate AP Singh contended that the convicts deserved the proctection under Article 21 of the Constitution till their last breath.

He also pointed out that the High Court's order upholding the sine die postponment of execution of the accused had not been stayed by the Supreme Court.

After hearing the parties, the Court took note of the High Court order giving seven days to all the four convicts to avail legal remedies before them and concluded that the application for fixing the date of execution was premature.

The Court said,

"I concur with the Ld amicus for the convict Mukesh that the date of execution of death warrant cannot be fixed on the basis of surmises and conjectures. Applications at hand are premature and thus deserve to be dismissed."

Judge Dharmender Rana

The Supreme Court will hear Centre's appeal against the Delhi High Court order on Februray 11.

Read the Order:

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Nirbhaya order - Feb 7.pdf

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Nirbhaya