Nirbhaya Case execution (Delays Tactics) – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

The Nirbhaya case – A timeline

On December 16, 2012, a 23 year old paramedical student (named ‘Nirbhaya’ by media/society) was gang-raped and brutally assaulted by six men in a private bus and thrown out of the moving vehicle along with her male friend, in Delhi
Protests erupted in the capital after the incident
On 29 December 2012, Nirbhaya succumbed to her injuries.

Police filed charge sheet against five adults accused of murder, gang rape, attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences and dacoity.

3 January 2013 – The case is heard in a Fast track court (FTC) for speedy trial in sexual offence cases.
Ram Singh committed suicide in Tihar Jail on March 11 , 2013.
August 2013 – JJB convicts the minor for gang rape and murder and awards three-year term at probation home.
September 2013 – The FTC convicts Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan of 13 offences including gang rape, unnatural offence and murder of the girl and attempt to murder her male friend.
The court awards death penalty to all 4 convicts.
September 2013 – All four appeal in High court . Hearing began.
March 2014 – DELHI HC upholds death penalty to the 4 convicts.
April , 2016: Hearings begin in the Supreme Court, after 19 months .
May 5, 2017 – Supreme Court upholds death penalty to four convicts, says the case falls under the category of ‘rarest of rare’ and the offence created “tsunami of shock”.

In 2014, a Constitution Bench of the court ruled that review petitions in death row cases have to be necessarily heard in open court, and the court would have to debate both the grounds for conviction and the quantum of sentence.
Earlier, such cases were heard in chambers of judges, and no reasons were assigned for dismissing them.

As a last legal resort, the option of filing a curative petition is also available to the convict.
However, the scope for filing a curative petition is very narrow, and the court has to be satisfied that there would be grave injustice if the verdict is implemented.

Under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution, the President of India and Governors respectively have the power to “grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions” of punishment awarded by the courts.
Late 2017 – One by one , three accused move the SC for review
July 2018 – SC rejects the review plea of 3 convicts.
December 2019 – Akshay moves a plea in SC for review of his death sentence (Dismissed within a week)
December 2019: Delhi HC dismisses plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta claiming he was a juvenile at the time of the offence
Once the review has been rejected, the state can move to obtain a warrant of execution from the trial court.
The warrant was issued by a Delhi court on 7 January.
(There have been several instances in the past when death row convicts have had to wait for the warrant of execution for years.)
14 January 2020 – SC rejects curative petition of two of the four death row convicts – Vinay and Mukesh.
17 January 2020 – The mercy petition of Mukesh Singh was rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind
Status of Vinay Sharma’s mercy petition* – Before president
Pawan and Akshay are yet to file curative petition + request presidential pardon Hypothetically – 2 curative and 3 mercy petitions are left before death sentence can be executed

In Shatrughan Chauhan (2014), the Supreme Court laid down guidelines including that the death row prisoner must be given a minimum of 14 days’ notice to prepare himself mentally for the hanging, after rejection of mercy petition.
The convicts have another case pending against them (robbery/dacoity)
According to convention and guidelines laid by SC , ALL CONVISTS MUST BE HANGED TOGETHER if they are convicted in same case and crime. (Harbans singh,1982)
The physical and mental health of the death row prisoner must also be taken into account before the execution, and the convict should be hanged only if prison officials are satisfied that he is healthy.
In 2014, in a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that unexplained delay in execution can be a ground to commute death penalty.

Inordinate delays in deciding mercy pleas can also be a ground for courts to commute the sentence.

There were 371 prisoners on death row by the end of December 2017, with the oldest case being from 1991.
However, only 5 prisoners have been executed in the last 25 years

“The air quality and water quality in Delhi/NCR is toxic and poisonous. The life span of any average person is going from short to shorter. Why execute the death penalty on anybody in a situation like this?”
AP Singh, Lawyer of the convicts, in SC
“If the President and the Union government feel it is urgent to deliver justice, they should immediately bring an ordinance and close the door for relief like mercy petition for not only these four convicts but in all cases which are pending in various courts,” Nirbhaya’s father.