‘Crime is heinous but..’: K Joseph on why Dec 16 rape convicts shouldn’t be hanged

Former Supreme Court Judge Kurian Joseph backed life imprisonment over death warrant for 2012 Delhi gang rape convicts. Joseph said hanging the convicts won't stop the crimes. The former judge said convicts should be imprisoned for life so that “society can be told that if anyone indulges in such sort of crimes, they will be behind bars forever whereas people forget about the crime after the execution.” This comes after three of the four convicts filed plea seeking a stay on their execution since two of the convicts had filed a second mercy petition, just a couple of days before the scheduled hanging on March 20. Earlier, convict Mukesh Singh's plea was dismissed by Delhi High Court where Mukesh had challenged a trial court order which rejected his claim he was not in the national capital when the crime was committed on December 16, 2012.