Nirbhaya's parents' plea seeking death warrant of convicts adjourned
What's the story
A petition filed by Nirbhaya's parents, seeking the issuance of the death warrant of four convicts who raped their daughter in 2012, was adjourned by a Delhi court on Friday. The matter has been listed for hearing on December 18, a day after the Supreme Court is slated to take up the review petition of one of the convicts. Here are more details.
Backstory
It's been seven years since she was brutally raped
On December 16, 2012, 23-year-old Nirbhaya, as she was named by Indian media after the horrendous incident, boarded a private bus in Delhi, along with her male friend. The six occupants of the vehicle brutally raped her, thrashed her friend, and dumped them on the road. On December 29, she breathed her last at a hospital in Singapore. This assault infuriated the entire nation.
Punishment
For committing the heinous crime, convicts got death sentence
The outrage played a part and Nirbhaya's criminals were arrested soon. Subsequently, they were awarded a death sentence for committing the "rarest of the rare" crime. The ones on the death row are Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh, as the fifth adult, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide before the trial ended. The sixth convict was a juvenile at the time.
Verdict
Have waited for years, can wait for week: Nirbhaya's mother
Though the punishment was pronounced years ago, the execution is yet to happen. And perhaps to speed up the process, Nirbhaya's parents approached the Delhi court. After their plea was adjourned, her mother Asha Devi said, "When we have fought for 7 years, we can wait for another week. On December 18, their (convicts in the case) death warrant will be issued."
Plea
In plea, convict said pollution is cutting his life short
As it turns out, a review plea filed by convict Akshay Thakur prompted the Delhi court to adjourn Nirbhaya's parents' request. This month, Thakur approached the apex court seeking to be exempted from the death penalty. In what qualifies as a weird argument, Thakur said Delhi's air and water pollution were cutting his life short anyway, so why send him to the gallows.
Quote
These are delaying tactics: Nirbhaya's parents' lawyer on Thakur's plea
Naturally, the plea filed by Thakur upset Nirbhaya's parents' counsel Jitendra Kumar Jha, who said, "These legal remedies are delaying tactics by the defense as they want to capture some more breath for themselves."
Preperations
Meanwhile, Tihar Jail has started preparing for execution
The convicts may be making last-ditch efforts, but Tihar Jail, where all of them are lodged in separate cells, has already started making arrangements for their hanging. As per reports, an order for 10 ropes, built by prisoners of Buxar jail, has been placed. Further, since Asia's largest prison facility doesn't have a hangman currently, the officials have approached the Uttar Pradesh administration.