Nirbhaya case: Court defers hanging of death row convicts till further orders

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday deferred till further order the hanging of four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case pending disposal of a convict’s mercy plea.

All the convicts in the case were to be hanged together on Tuesday at 6 AM.

The execution of their death warrants has now been deferred thrice due to delays in exhausting legal remedies.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Gupta.

“Despite stiff resistance from the victim’s side, I am of the opinion that any condemned convict must not meet his Creator with a grievance in his bosom that the courts of the country have not acted fairly in granting him an opportunity to exhaust his legal remedies,” the judge said.

“As a cumulative effect of the discussion, I am of the opinion that the death sentence cannot be executed pending the disposal of the mercy petition of the convict. It is hereby di