A day before the execution of the four convicts in Nirbhaya rape case, high drama was witnessed outside Delhi’s Patiala House Court as the wife of one of the four convicts Akshay Kumar launched a protest along with her children.
Wife of #Nirbhaya rape convict Akshay outside Patiala House Court in Delhi protesting against the capital punishment a day before the execution of the four convicts. pic.twitter.com/NvD8zERdTB
— Aakriti Sharma (@_aakritisharma) March 19, 2020
Last week, Akshay filed a divorce case against his wife, which was used by his lawyer as grounds to seek a reconsideration of his punishment.
But the Supreme Court and Patiala House Court rejected the fresh petitions filed by the convicts on Thursday. They had asked the court to change their death sentence to life-time imprisonment.
All four convicts in the case – Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh, and Akshay Kumar - had filed several petitions but all have since been rejected. It now seems likely that they will all be hanged on Friday.
The first death warrant was issued on 7 January for hanging on 22 January. But the punishment has been delayed by successive appeals.
The four convicts were found guilty and awarded death sentences in the Nirbhaya rape case in 2014 by the Delhi High Court and in 2017 by the Supreme Court. On 16 December 2012, six men brutally gang raped a 23-year-old medical student in a moving bus in New Delhi. As a result of the assault, the woman eventually died.
