Delhi gangrape victim Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi on Monday said no matter what the convicts did, they would be hanged for their crime, after a Delhi court deferred the execution of the death penalty in the case till further orders.
“This shows the failure of our system. The whole world is watching how justice is being delayed in India,” she told reporters.
It is the third time that the hanging of the four convicts has been deferred.
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Ms. Asha Devi said she “loses hope every day” but the convicts will be hanged no matter what they do.
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“I lose hope every day but I stand tall every day. They would have to be hanged. There could not have been a worse case than Nirbhaya but still I am struggling to get justice. The courts are sitting and watching the drama,” she added.
A Delhi court on Monday deferred till further orders the hanging of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
The hanging was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 a.m. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence could not be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta.
The court passed the order on Pawan’s plea seeking to stay the execution as he has filed a mercy petition before the President on Monday.
The first date of execution, January 22, was postponed to February 1 by a January 17 court order. Then the trial court, on January 31, stayed, “till further orders” the execution of the four convicts as they had not exhausted all their legal remedies.
The court had on February 17 directed that the four men be hanged by neck on March 3 at 6 a.m. until they are dead. This was for the third time that the death warrants were issued by the court against them.
“Now deferring it any further would be sacrilegious to the rights of the victim for expeditious justice,” it had said.
‘Convicts misleading court’
Earlier, Ms. Asha Devi said the convicts were misleading the courts, but asserted that she trusted the justice system.
She was reacting after one of the four convicts Pawan Kumar Gupta filed a mercy plea before the President.
“These people are misleading the court. I have trust in the justice system of India and we still have strong belief on it that finally they will be hanged,” she told reporters.
On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition filed by Gupta in the case, following which his lawyer A.P. Singh said he filed the mercy plea before the President.
Counsel said the mercy plea was filed after getting information that the apex court had dismissed Gupta’s curative petition.
Later in the day, a Delhi court dismissed the pleas of two of the four convicts in the gang rape and murder case that sought stay on the execution of their death warrants.