Moments after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants of all four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case till further orders, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday expressed his disappointment.
Taking to the micro-blogging site, Twitter, he asserted that the rapists of Nirbhaya were finding the loopholes of the law to delay the verdict of hanging. The court order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana on the petition filed by the convicts seeking a stay on their execution on February 1.
मुझे दुख है की निर्भया के अपराधी कानून के दाँव पेंच ढूंढ कर फांसी को टाल रहे है। उनको फांसी तुरंत होनी चाहिए। हमे हमारे कानून में संशोधन करने की सख्त जरूरत है ताकि रेप के मामलों में फांसी 6 महीने के अंदर हो।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 31, 2020
CM Kejriwal also said that the convicts should be hanged as soon as possible, adding that amendment in the laws should be introduced so that the rape convicts can be hanged within six months.
He tweeted, "Mujhe dukh hai ki Nirbhaya ke aparadhi kanoon ke dao pench dhund kar phaasi ko taal rahe hai. Unko phaasi turanth honi chahiye. Hume humare kanoon mein sanshodhan karne ki sakqt zarurat hai taaki rape ke mamlo mein phaasi 6 mahine ke andar ho. (I am sorry that the criminals of Nirbhaya are finding the loopholes of the law to delay hanging. They should be hanged immediately. We are in dire need to amend our law so that in cases of rape, the hanging is within 6 months)."
Reacting to the court order, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said that her family will continue the legal battle till her daughter's rapists are executed. ''The lawyer of the convicts, AP Singh has challenged me saying that the convicts will never be executed. I will continue my fight. The government will have to execute the convicts,'' a teary-eyed Asha Devi said after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants till further order.
Devi told reporters that the court's ruling has ''shattered her hopes" but she will continue her fight. "These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.
The court also directed the Tihar Jail authorities not to execute the death warrants issued against the convicts. The execution was scheduled for Saturday at 6 am.
Commenting on the court order, Asha Devi said because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged".
The warrants for the execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.
A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.
