One Ravi Kumar from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh has written to President Ramnath Kovind to appoint him as a temporary executioner in Delhi’s Tihar jail. According to news agency ANI, in his letter he has stated that he should be appointed as temporary executioner so that Nirbhaya case convicts can be hanged soon and “her soul rests in peace”.
Yesterday, Times of India had reported that Tihar Jail does not have a hangman as the execution date for the men who brutally gang-raped Nirbhaya in December, 2012 nears. The hanging of convicts may be done as early as in one month’s time. The convicts are to be hanged a day after the court issues a ‘Black Warrant’, a sanction for their execution. The warrant is issued after the President rejects their mercy petition.
When Parliament attack terrorist Afzal Guru was executed, Tihar authorities were caught off-guard and one of the prison officials pulled the lever. Tihar officials have reportedly started contacting other jails to ask if they have hangmen they could use. Tihar is expected to get a temporary hangman for the convicts.
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As of now, only one convict, Vinay Sharma, has asked for mercy and jail authorities have sent it to Delhi Government which have forwarded the same to Lieutenant Governor with a request to reject the petition as the crime was very severe. The LG will send the file to the President and the decision will then be conveyed to Tihar Jail. Following this, the jail authorities will move the court for a Black Warrant. A day after issuance of the warrant, the convicts will be executed.
The four accused were found guilty of rape, murder and destruction of evidence in September 2013 and sentenced to death by hanging. The Delhi High Court upheld the sentence, noting that the crime, which prompted widespread protests over sexual crimes against women in the country, fell into the judicial system’s “rarest of rare category” that allows capital punishment.
The convicts then appealed in the top court but the Supreme Court rejected the convicts’ appeal stating that they had committed “a barbaric crime” that had “shaken society’s conscience,” and maintained the death sentence of the four convicts who had been charged with rape and murder. In July 2018, the Supreme Court rejected a review petition by three of the convicts. There were two other persons involved in the horrific crime. One of the accused Ram Singh had commited suicide, while the sixth person was a juvenile who had already spent the maximum two year term applicable for minors in a juvenile home and is leading a free life now.
