Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh, in the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday sought the intervention of Parliament, the President and the Chief Justice of India to ensure that convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape case are hanged at the earliest.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, concurring with Mr. Singh’s submission, said the matter was “very sensitive and serious” and the court judgment must be
implemented at the earliest.
‘Date after date’
Speaking during zero hour, Mr. Singh said delay in delivery of justice in Nirbhaya cases was unfortunate. Though a fast track court was set up, the accused were convicted and sentence was given, the hanging had been repeatedly delayed. “ Tarikh per Tarikh (date after date),” Mr. Singh said, in an apparent reference to a famous dialogue of the film Damini revolving around a rape trial.
Mr. Singh sought intervention from the top echelons of the government. “With folded hands, I request you, whether it is President of India or Chief Justice of India, the convicts must be hanged at the earliest. They have no right to escape,” Mr. Singh added.
Observing that people were agitated and concerned over the delay in execution of the court order, Mr. Naidu said those in the system must fulfil their responsibilities.
He said the convicts were given all legal opportunities. “After getting all those avenues and opportunities exhausted on some pretext or other, if things are getting postponed people are becoming restive. This has to be understood by one and all,” Mr. Naidu said. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar blamed the Delhi government for the delay in executing the punishment.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless), was gang-raped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital. There were widespread protests against the incident and the then Congress government’s reaction to it.
