New Delhi, Feb 2, 2020: The four convicts in the Nirbhaya case are “trying the patience of the nation,” the federal government told the Delhi High Court in a rare Sunday hearing on February 2.

The government challenged a trial court’s order staying the execution of Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh and Akshay Singh, who were convicted for the 2012 gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi.

The four were to be executed on February 1, but the hanging was postponed indefinitely after one of them, Vinay Sharma, filed a mercy petition before President Ram Nath Kovind.

As his appeal was turned down, another convict, Akshay Singh, filed his mercy plea.

The four will not hang until further orders in the case, Delhi’s Patiala House Court has said. The rules require that a convict gets 14 days between the rejection of a mercy plea and his execution. The original date of execution, January 22, was pushed back after Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea was rejected.

Asking the High Court to order execution of the two convicts who have exhausted all legal options and whose mercy plea have been turned down, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government, said: “The accused are trying the patience of the nation. Such delays will shake the faith of people in the administration of justice”.

Accusing the convicts of “acting in tandem” to “frustrate the very objective of the punishment,” Mehta said convict Pawan Gupta has been “filing all kinds of appeals in courts but not the mercy petition.”

“Mukesh filed almost his seventh legal proceeding on January 31. Till that point, he had still not filed his mercy plea,” the Centre argued. This is to deliberately delay the execution, Mehta added.

“I am standing here today because even death row convicts of heinous crimes are entitled to their rights,” said advocate Rebecca John, who was representing Mukesh Singh. “The convicts are under no constitutional obligation to hasten the proceedings. You can’t condemn me for using legal remedies,” she added.

The government was talking of delay for the first time, John said, pointing out that her review petitions and curative petitions were dismissed not on the basis of delay but merit.

“My mercy petition was also dismissed on merit. Nobody told me a delay argument or accused me of acting in tandem like the Union government is saying now,” she added.

The Delhi High Court has reserved orders on the revision petition led by the federal government against the trial court’s stay on the execution.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait heard the arguments for over three hours on a special sitting starting from 3 pm.

Source: ndtv.com