In an absurd move to avoid the death sentence, three convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case --Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharm -- who failed to get any relief from the Indian court of law, have moved to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking a stay on their hanging.
The move to approach ICJ by the convicts of rape and murder of the paramedical student came days before their hanging on Friday, March 20 at 5:30 am at Delhi's Tihar Jail where they are currently lodged.
The four convicts of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case - Mukesh Singh, Akshay, Pawan and Vinay - were found guilty and sentenced to death. However, they used every tactic in the book to avoid the death sentence but failed and this move is also seen as another effort to somehow delay the hanging.
The accused knew they will be hanged together, hence, they took turns to use every legal recourse available notably review petition, curative plea and mercy plea but they all were rejected. In between, they were issued death warrants multiple times but got away as the court said that the accused cannot be executed until they exhaust all their available legal options to seek relief.
The fear of death in the accused can be sensed from the very fact that they have now approached the ICJ, an organisation where international disputes between countries are settled. Also, experts say that their plea is likely to be rejected by the world court.
Supreme Court rejects Mukesh's request to file new curative plea
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court once again rejected a request by Mukesh seeking to file another curative petition against his death sentence. The top court said that the "circumstances say there is no remedy left. You (Mukesh Singh) have availed mercy plea. It was rejected. Warrants issued. The curative petition has been dismissed."
In one of the most gruesome acts of humanity, the four convicts, along with two others had gang-raped the victim, hailed as Nirbhaya (the one who has no fear) in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. The culprits had tortured the girl beyond imagination and inserted an iron road inside her. She succumbed to her injuries on December 29 at a hospital in Singapore.
One of the attackers was minor and he was released after spending three years at a correction home. His identity was never revealed since he was a minor. Another person, Ram Singh, who was the main accused in the case, was found himself hanging in jail.
