Dec 2012 gang-rape: Delhi HC to hold special hearing to decide on Centre’s plea to speed up hanging

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court will hold a special hearing Sunday afternoon to decide a petition by the Centre challenging the postponement of the death warrant

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court will hold a special hearing Sunday afternoon to decide a petition by the Centre challenging the postponement of the death warrant till further orders in the December 16, 2012 gang-rape case, which states that the convicts are testing the “patience of the country”.

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Justice Suresh Kait issued a notice to the Tihar jail and director general (prisons) on the plea filed by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) through solicitor general Tushar Mehta, stating that the convicts had made a “mockery of justice” by “abusing” the process of law.

On Saturday, in a dramatic turn of events, the Centre urgently mentioned the petition before the high court and a special hearing was then scheduled for 5.30pm on Saturday.

Appearing for the MHA, solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the high court that two of the convicts – Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma – can be hanged as they had exhausted all their legal options and even their mercy petitions had been rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.

He said the trial court judge had wrongly interpreted the meaning of the word “application” in the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 and had taken it in a generic manner, including the mercy plea which is sent to the President of India.

On Friday, a Delhi court had postponed the hanging of the four convicts, which had been scheduled for February 1 at 6am, till further orders on a plea by one of the convicts – Vinay Sharma – seeking a stay on the execution of the death warrant in wake of the mercy plea filed before the President.

“This gang-rape case will go down in history of India where convicts of a heinous crime are trying the patience of the country,” the solicitor general, who is the Central government’s second-most senior law officer, told the Delhi High Court.

Mehta was critical of the conduct of the convicts, who he said had taken the legal process for a “joyride”. He said that the word “application” being referred here means the special leave to file an appeal. He said that the trial court, while postponing the execution order, had failed to consider that the four convicts have been held guilty of a “horrible, dreadful, abominable, cruel, ghastly and heinous” crime.

The high court judge sought to know whether the convicts can be hanged separately. To this, Mehta said that the convicts can be hanged separately. Citing a Supreme Court judgment, Mehta said that keeping the execution of the death warrant in abeyance can be “de-humanising” for the convicts. He said that a person on death penalty should be executed immediately because it will have a de-humanising effect on them.

He said that if one of the convicts chooses not to file a curative petition, it does not mean that others’ execution is also stopped. He contended that tomorrow, convict Mukesh Singh can also move another mercy plea citing change in circumstances.

The solicitor general requested that the hearing be conducted on Sunday, stating that this is the “grossest misuse of law”. He also cited the example of the encounter of the accused in the Telegana rape case, stating that the people celebrated the killings of the rapists because of the misuse of law by the convicts.

He said that such an act shakes the conscience of the society. He added that a mercy plea is a personlised application by an individual and this does not affect the other convicts on death row.

Following this, the court sought the response of the Tihar jail authorities and three convicts – Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Singh – and posted the matter for further hearing on Sunday at 3pm.

When asked Asha Devi, the mother of the 23-year-old paramedic student who was gang-raped by the convicts on December 16, 2012, said that through this petition, the Central government is not just helping them but the women of the entire country.

“The execution has been stayed for now. I don’t know when the execution will take place but I am certain that it will. The convicts will certainly be hanged,” Asha Devi added.