SC to hear on Tuesday Centre's plea seeking to separately execute Nirbhaya convicts

The Supreme Court on Friday posted for February 11 hearing in the Central government's appeal seeking to separately execute the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

A bench headed by Justice R Banumathi recorded that Delhi High Court had granted one week's time to the convicts to take steps to adopt any legal remedies, and since that time expires on February 11, it will hear the case at 2 pm on February 11.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, pressed that notice be issued to the convicts for their response on the Centre's plea but the apex court refused to issue notice.

The top court said that it will hear the government on the merit of the case.

Mehta asked the apex court to lay down a law for the execution of the death sentence and said that the nation's patience has been tested enough in December 16 gangrape case in which execution of sentence is getting delayed as death convicts are not exhausting their legal remedies and adopting delaying tactics.

The Centre had challenged in the apex court Delhi High Court's order rejecting its plea for separately executing the four convicts in the case.

Delhi High Court had, on Wednesday, granted a week's time to the four death row convicts to avail all legal remedies available to them and said that the convicts cannot be hanged separately since they were convicted for the same crime.

The High Court had passed the order while hearing petitions filed by the Centre and Tihar jail authorities challenging the Patiala House Court's order which had stayed "till further order" the execution of the four convicts in the matter.

A Delhi court had earlier stayed till further orders the execution of the four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.