December 16 gangrape: Court issues fresh death warrants, convicts to hang on March 20

Meanwhile, the top court has adjourned to March 23 and will take up the pleas by the Centre and Delhi government seeking permission to execute convicts separately. The matter will be rendered infructuous if the hanging takes place on March 20.

The victim’s mother expressed hope that this would be the final date for the hanging of the convicts. “Hope this is the final date and the convicts will be hanged on March 20. Till the time they are not hanged, the struggle will be on. The morning of March 20 will be the morning of our life,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Explained | Understanding the delay in Delhi gangrape convicts’ hanging

“While dying, my daughter had asked to ensure they get such a punishment so that such crimes are not repeated. If there is any chance, I would like to see them die,” she added.

Delay in execution of death sentence

The execution of their death warrants has been deferred thrice so far due to delays by them in exhausting legal remedies. All the convicts in the case are to be hanged together

The Delhi government, while moving the court on Wednesday, had said that the convicts have exhausted all of their legal remedies. All four convicts had moved curative petitions against the death penalty in the Supreme Court which were rejected. The top court also dismissed petitions of three convicts challenging the rejection of their mercy pleas by the President.

The apex court had on July 9, 2018, dismissed the review pleas filed by the three other convicts in the case saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict. On December 18, the top court rejected convict Akshay Singh’s review plea.

The date of execution, first fixed for January 22, was postponed for 6 am on February 1 by a January 17 court order. The execution was again postponed by the trial court on February 1, saying the country cannot afford to discriminate against a death row convict in pursuit of legal remedies.

On February 5, the High Court gave the convicts one week’s time to exhaust their legal remedies and also rejected the government’s prayer to allow them to be executed separately.

Explained: Can death sentence be postponed on medical grounds?

The hanging of the four convicts was finally scheduled for March 3 but was deferred again as convict Pawan’s mercy petition was pending before the President.

The case dates back to December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old woman was gangraped and assaulted inside a moving bus in South Delhi by six persons, before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012.

One of the accused, Ram Singh, hanged himself in jail, while another, a juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a reform facility.

In September 2013, a fast-track court held the four convicts guilty of 13 offences including gangrape, unnatural sexual assault and murder of the woman and attempt to murder her male friend. In 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty to four convicts, says the case falls under the category of ‘rarest of rare’ crime.