Nirbhaya case: Centre, Delhi govt suffer jolts in SC & trial court

The Centre and the Delhi government suffered jolts on Friday in the Nirbhaya case with a trial court refusing to issue fresh death warrants against the four convicts and the Supreme Court not favouring issuing notice to the prisoners on the plea against stay of their execution.

The first setback came from the apex court which did not heed to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's fervent request to issue notices to the convicts on the appeal of the Centre and the Delhi government against the February 5 order of Delhi High Court which said that the death row prisoners have to be executed together and not separately.

Hours after the proceedings in the top court, the matter reached the Patiala House district court which trashed the pleas of the Delhi government and Tihar jail authorities seeking issuance of fresh death warrants against the convicts.

"It is criminally sinful to execute the convicts when law permits them to live," Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana said.

"I concur with counsel for convicts that death warrants cannot be executed merely on basis of surmises and conjectures. The applications are bereft of merit," he added