Nirbhaya Case: Convicts Given A Week Time To Exhaust Legal Options

The death sentence of four convicts of 2012 gang rapecase should exercise their legal remedies within the next seven days afterwhich the authorities should act in accordance with the law, Justice SureshKumar Kait of the Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday.

Justice Kait, however, rejected the Centre's appealagainst the trial court's order that put off their execution on February 1 andthe request to hang two of them- Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma because they hadexhausted their legal options.

The Centre's senior-most senior law officer, Tushar Mehta argued that the court had misinterpreted the Tihar prison rules that require the court to defer execution of death row convicts if an appeal or an application is made on behalf of any of them.

Mehta, who had been critical of the effort by theconvicts to delay their execution, had sought to convince the high court that amercy petition could not be counted as an appeal or application.

However, Justice Kait wasn't convinced saying, "I am of the opinion that all their death warrants have to be executed together," the Judge ruled.

Justice Kait, who had held a special hearing on Sundayat the Centre's request, said the convicts were taking shelter of Article 21which provides protection to them till their last breath.

But he pulled up the authorities who the court felthad woken up late in the day.

The judge said, "I have no hesitation to say thatnobody bothered to execute the death warrants as long as Mukesh did not filehis review plea in the Supreme Court after 186 days."