As the date of sentence, now decided as March 3rd is approaching, the Nirbhaya convicts have thrown another tactic to delay the hanging. This is the third time that the date has been set and the accused are making it sure that it doesn’t happen this time too.
After trial court, Supreme Court and the President of India, Nirbhaya case convict Vinay Sharma’s lawyer has now filed a petition before the Election Commission challenging the Delhi government’s rejection of his mercy petition.
Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh said the petition was sent on January 29, when the Model Code of Conduct was in place, and wanted the Election Commission to look into the matter closely. He intends to make minister Manish Sisodia ineligible to reject the petition.
“We have filed a complaint in the Election Commission of India because the mercy petition of Vinay Sharma reached the Delhi government on January 30. At that time the government recommended the rejection. He was not an MLA or home minister of Delhi government because Model Code of Conduct was imposed,” said AP Singh.
The lawyer has further argued that the digital signature of Manish Sisodia was needed and a screenshot received through WhatsApp was used to reject the mercy petition.
The lawyer said, “I want that the pride of the EC, President, Supreme Court and Home Ministry shouldn’t be destroyed in this way.”
With a fresh death warrant out to hang the 4 convicts on death row — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh — on March 3, the lawyers are trying to get their clients death sentences converted into life terms. Two death warrants issued for January 22 and February 1 had lapsed with courts staying their execution.
Meanwhile, reports say, Vinay Sharma has injured himself after he attempted to hurt himself by hitting his head against a wall in his cell early this week. He also claimed that Vinay was assaulted in jail and had head injuries, while adding that he was suffering from acute mental illness and hence the death sentence cannot be carried out.
