Amid reports that the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case will be hanged soon, authorities of Delhi’s Tihar jail have sought the service of a hangman at Uttar Pradesh's Meerut jail.
Sources told Zee Media that the request was received by Uttar Pradesh prison authorities after Pawan Gupta, one of the convicts in the case was shifted to Tihar Jail from Mandoli jail on Sunday (December 8). Three other convicts in the case - Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma - are already in Tihar Jail.
According to sources, the Tihar jail authorities have mentioned in their letter to Uttar Pradesh prison authorities that some death row convicts in Tihar jail have exhausted their legal and constitutional remedies.
On Tuesday (December 10), it was reported that Tihar authorities have also approached a prison in Bihar to prepare rope for gallows. It is learnt that Tihar authorities have ordered 10 new ropes from the Buxar jail in Bihar. The ropes are made by prisoners at Buxar jail.
The four convicts in Nirbhaya case are expected to be hanged after the rejection of Vinay's mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. As per rules, the convicts on death row are to be hanged 14 days after the rejection of mercy plea by President and in the meantime, the police gets death warrant for the convict. Except Vinay, no other convict in Nirbhaya case has filed mercy petition and it is highly unlikely that their mercy petitions would now be accepted by the court because they were given to file the plea but they decided against it. It is learnt that the death warrant of all four accused will be issued on the same day.
Notably, a convict is hanged 14 days after the rejection of mercy petition but it can be brought forward if the Centre and state government think that the wait for 14 days could create law and order issues.
A total of six people were convicted of raping and murdering Nirbhaya, 23, on December 16, 2012. Nirbhaya later died of her injuries at a hospital in Singapore, where she was airlifted for treatment, on December 29. The brutal crime led to massive protests across the country forcing the Centre to come up with new laws to deal with such heinous crimes.
Of the six convicts in this case case, one was a juvenile, who was sent to a rehabilitation centre for three years and another, Ram Singh, committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
