Nirbhaya convicts can be hanged separately: Tihar jail tells Delhi court

Tihar jail authorities on Friday told a Delhi court that the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case can be hanged separately.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana is hearing the convicts' plea seeking a stay on the execution, which is scheduled for February 1.

Public prosecutor Irfan Ahmad, representing Tihar Jail authorities, submitted a status report in the matter and said that the convicts in the matter can be hanged separately and that there is no illegality in it.

Ahmad said that the mercy petition of convict Vinay Sharma is pending, adding that the other three convicts have no pending plea in any legal forum and can be hanged on the scheduled execution date.

Convict Mukesh Singh has exhausted all the legal remedies available, Tihar jail informed the court.

Advocate AP Singh, appearing on behalf of the convicts, sought sine die adjournment and stated that some legal remedies are still available for the convicts.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing as Amicus Curiae for convict Mukesh, pressed for a stay on execution saying, "There cannot be a severance of execution order. The death penalty is an irreversible process. It would be a travesty of justice if convicts are segregated in terms of sentence for the very same offence."

An "amicus curiae" is someone who is not a party to a case and assists a court by offering information, expertise or insight into matters that have a bearing on the issues of the case.

Yesterday, a Patiala House court had issued a notice to Tihar jail authorities seeking its response on the petition filed by the convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case seeking a stay on the execution.

Four convicts in the matter -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Kumar Sharma -- are scheduled to be hanged on February 1.

Recently, Vinay Sharma has filed a mercy petition in the matter.

Earlier, mercy petition of convict Mukesh was rejected by the President. He later challenged the rejection of his mercy petition in the Supreme Court but to no avail.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalising of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.