Convicts Toying With Law: Nirbhaya’s Mother

FILE PHOTO: "Their tactic to delay hanging has been rejected. I'll be satisfied only when they're hanged on Feb 1. Just like they're delaying it one after other, they must be hanged one by one so that they understand what it means to toy with law," Asha Devi said

Asha Devi, mother of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim, said on Monday that the convicts have been trying to delay their hanging one after another. She said the Nirbhaya rape and murder convicts should be hanged one by one so that they understand what it means to toy with the law.

Asha Devi’s statement came moments after the Supreme Court rejected the plea of a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case challenging the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed his claim of being a juvenile at the time of commission of offence.

She also termed the convicts’ pleas in the case as a “tactic to delay the execution”.

“Their tactic to delay hanging has been rejected. I’ll be satisfied only when they’re hanged on Feb 1. Just like they’re delaying it one after other, they must be hanged one by one so that they understand what it means to toy with law,” Asha Devi was quoted as saying by ANI.

A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bushan and A S Bopanna dismissed the plea of the death row convict, Pawan Kumar Gupta, and upheld the Delhi High Court verdict.

The Supreme Court said there was no ground to interfere with the High Court order that rejected Pawan’s plea and his claim was rightly rejected by the trial court as also the High Court.

Advocate A P Singh, appearing for Pawan, said that as per his school leaving certificate, he was a minor at the time of the offence and none of the courts, including the trial court and the High Court, ever considered his documents.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Delhi Police, said that his claim of juvenility was considered at each and every judicial forum and it will be a travesty of justice if the convict is allowed to raise the clam of juvenility repeatedly and at this point of time.

He said Pawan Gupta was 19 years old at the time of the offence in 2012 and there is a certified copy of his birth certificate as well as school leaving certificate which was taken on record by each and every judicial forum.

Nirbhaya rape and murder case convict Pawan Gupta had moved the Supreme Court on Friday. He has also sought a direction restraining the authorities from executing the death penalty, scheduled for February 1.