Vinay Kumar Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court on Thursday. A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict. A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against all four convicts on January 7 and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am.
Hanging preparations underway
As the dates of the execution have been set, new gallows platform and pit have been readied at the Tihar Jail's execution chamber for the four rape convicts. According to the jail official, the hanging will be carried out in consonance with the provisions of the Delhi Jail Manual. The execution will be carried out by hangman Pawan Jallad who is from Meerut. Jallad claimed his grandfather had carried out the hanging of the two men involved in the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
This execution is 'real tribute' to Nirbhaya: SIT Officer
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha, who headed the SIT which investigated the whole case said that the execution of the Nirbhaya case convicts will be a "real tribute" to her.
Kushwaha said: "This judgment will send a strong message to criminals and nobody will dare to commit such a crime in future." All members of the special investigation team (SIT) did their best which resulted in consistent judgement by the court, he added.
Meanwhile, the debate on death sentence continues
After the Delhi Court issued a death warrant against the four accused--Mukesh Singh, 32, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, the debate on whether death sentence deters heinous crimes has ben evoked. While a section of experts hold a contrary view, there are those who favour the retention of capital punishment in the statute book. Senior advocate Rebecca M John and advocate Avani Bansal were of the view that capital punishments have rarely acted as a deterrent and it was not a solution. However, senior advocate Vikas Singh said death penalty should remain because it is a way of informing people that something so heinous would be retributed with the same treatment.
On December 16, 2012, 23-year-old Nirbhaya was brutally gang-raped and tortured, which led to her death. Six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
The four were convicted and sentenced on the basis of the testimony of the sole eyewitness, the victim's friend, who was badly injured in the incident, and the painstaking police probe that followed.
(With inputs from agencies)
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