Centre's plea seeking direction to execute Nirbhaya death row convicts separately to be heard on Feb 20

The Supreme Court on Friday fixed the matter pertaining to the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the central government and NCT of Delhi (through Lieutenant Governor) against the judgement of the Delhi High Court in the matter of 2012 gang-rape case for further hearing at 3 pm on February 20.

The Supreme Court on Friday fixed the matter pertaining to the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the central government and NCT of Delhi (through Lieutenant Governor) against the judgement of the Delhi High Court in the matter of 2012 gang-rape case for further hearing at 3 pm on February 20. A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice R Banumathi and also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Ashok Bhushan, fixed the matter for further hearing.

The Centre had moved the top court after the Delhi High Court had rejected its petition. The trial court has fixed the matter for February 17 at 2 pm, we are of the view that these petitions be taken up thereafter, the Supreme Court observed today.

"List these special leave petitions on 20th February 2020 at 3.00 p.m. We make it clear that the pendency of these petitions may not be treated as an impediment for the Trial Court to consider the matter on its own merits," the apex court said. Earlier today, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition of Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convict Vinay Kumar Sharma challenging the rejection of mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The Supreme Court also said in its order that the medical reports stated that Vinay is psychologically fit and his medical condition is stable. The apex court dismissed his petition, finding it devoid of merit. Vinay Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, had filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President of India.

On February 1, President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected the mercy petition of Vinay Sharma in the case. The mercy petitions of convicts Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh have also been rejected. The Delhi High Court on February 5 granted a week's time to the four convicts to avail of all legal remedies available to them and said that the convicts cannot be hanged separately since they were convicted for the same crime.

A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh -- on January 7 and they were scheduled to be executed on January 22 at Tihar Jail. Later, the execution was suspended indefinitely by a Delhi court. The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalizing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case. (ANI)

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