Delhi HC reserves order on Centre's plea challenging stay on execution of Nirbhaya convicts

New Delhi, Feb 02: The Delhi High Court on Sunday reserved judgement on the Centre and Tihar Jail's plea challenging the stay on the execution of the four convicts in the December 16 gang rape case.

Centre on Sunday told the Delhi High Court at a special hearing that it is deliberate, calculated and well thought of design by 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case convicts to "frustrate mandate of law" by getting their execution delayed.

"The four convicts by filing their respective review petition or curative petition or mercy petitions, one after the other and that too at such a belated stage, that is after the issuance of the death warrants, are in fact being permitted to play with the majesty of law leading to unnecessarily prolonging the execution and thereby taking the judicial process for a ride," the plea had said.

"There cannot be any delay in the interest of justice, death sentence cannot be delayed. In the interest of the convict, any delay in death sentence will have a dehumanising effect on the accused," Mehta said.

Advocate AP Singh appearing for death row convicts Pawan Gupta, Akshay Kumar and Vinay Sharma, contended that there was no prescribed time given to execute the death sentence by the Supreme Court and Constitution.

A Delhi court had on Friday stayed till further orders the execution of the four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutal murder 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.