Nirbhaya: Tihar Jail moves Delhi Court seeking date of execution for four convicts

Tihar Jail Authorities today moved the Additional Sessions Court at the Patiala House Courts seeking a date for execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case..The application has been moved under Section 413 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in view of fact that mercy petitions preferred by convicts, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay have been rejected by the President and convict Pawan has not filed any such plea..Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana today sought response from the convicts in the application and listed the matter for hearing on February 7..In its application filed through Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed, Tihar has submitted that yesterday, Delhi High Court had refused to set aside the Trial Court order postponing the execution of death warrant sine die and had given seven days to the convicts to avail their legal remedies..[Breaking] Nirbhaya: No stay on trial court order postponing execution of convicts, HC directs convicts to avail all legal remedies within 7 days.Tihar has contended that with the rejection of Akshay's mercy plea, there is no legal proceedings pending before any Court or constitutional authority as of now and hence, the Trial Court was free to issue a specific date and time for executing the death warrant..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..Thereafter, on January 31, the Court had stayed the execution of Nirbhaya convicts till further orders in view of the pendency of Vinay's mercy plea..The January 31 order was challenged by the Central Government on the ground that the convicts were abusing the process of law and that there was a coordinated and deliberate inaction by the co-convicts to delay the execution of sentence..Seeking the execution the death warrant qua the convicts who have exhausted their legal remedies, the Centre had urged the High Court to set aside the Trial Court order postponing execution of death warrant sine die..In its verdict delivered yesterday, the High Court held that the convicts could not be segregated in the present case and upheld the order of the Trial Court. The Central Government has already challenged the High Court order before the Supreme Court.