Eighteen days after the horrific gangrape of a 23-year-old paramedical student, the Delhi police on Thursday filed its chargesheet in a court in Delhi against five men arrested in the case, slapping on them murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges.
One of the accused in the December 16 gang rape case was on Thursday not brought before the fast track court due to ill-health following which the proceedings could not take place.
A Delhi court on Thursday fixed January 14 for scrutiny of documents filed with the charge sheet in the case of the December 16 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl.
In a desperate bid to escape punishment, two of the six accused in the Delhi gangrape case on Sunday told a court that they want to become witnesses on behalf of the state while two others pleaded for legal aid.
Two of the accused in the Delhi gang-rape case on Thursday claimed before a special court that they were not in the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was brutally assaulted and raped by six persons on December 16 night.
The male friend and the sole eyewitness to the December 16 brutal assault and gangrape of the victim in a moving bus was on Monday cross-examined by the defence in the fast-track court trying the case in New Delhi.
Some people distributed sweets after the convicts were hanged.
The petition sought recording of calls, documents and reports by an investigating agency like CBI and to declare that the convict has legal and constitutional rights to approach any court at any time even in the last minute of hanging.
'Our struggle does not end here. Justice is getting delayed. It's affecting other daughters of the society'
Pawan is the only one among the four convicts who has not yet filed the curative petition -- the last legal remedy available to a person, which is decided in-chamber. He has not filed the mercy plea either.
The president had last month also rejected the clemency petition of another accused, Mukesh Singh.
Sources said if the mercy petition is not filed, the prison authorities approach the court, which will issue a death warrant.
The fourth convict, Pawan Gupta, has not filed a curative petition, which he still can if he chooses.
A team of prison officials performed the dummy execution on Sunday. The officials recorded the weights of the convicts and the prepared the dummies accordingly with sacks filled with debris and stones, a senior jail official said. The execution will take place on in Jail No 3, he said, adding that the UP Prison authority has confirmed that Pawan Jallad from Meerut will be sent to hang the four convicts.
A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict. In his plea, Vinay Sharma has said his young age has been erroneously rejected as a mitigating circumstance. The review pleas of all the convicts have been rejected by the SC and they're set to be hanged on January 22.
A Delhi court on Tuesday issued death warrants against all the four convicts in the gang rape-murder case. Pawan Jallad is said to be considered for the job, though he is yet to receive an official order.
A five-judge Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan heard the petition filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh. The duo had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued death warrants in their names for their hanging on January 22.
The four death row convicts are Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan is expected to deliver its judgment on the pleas of Mukesh, 29, Pawan Gupta, 22, and Vinay Sharma, 23.
On January 20, the apex court had rejected the plea by Pawan who had challenged the Delhi high court's order dismissing his juvenility claim.
A woman on Tuesday allegedly jumped to death from the 19th floor of a residential building along with her two children at suburban Malad in Mumbai. Nidhi Pawan Gupta, a chartered accountant, left a suicide note in which she said that nobody was responsible for the extreme step, said the police. The bodies of Gupta, 30, her son Gaurav, 6, and daughter Mahika, 3, were taken to nearby civic run Bhagwati hospital for post mortem, police said.
Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said even the court understands that the convicts are filing pleas one after the other just to delay the hanging.
A Tihar jail official said that one hangman is enough to execute the hanging.
Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana issued notice to Tihar Jail authorities on the pleas moved of Akshay Singh and Pawan Kumar Gupta, directing the officials to file their response by March 2.
The Centre and the Delhi government challenged the trial court's January 31 order staying 'till further orders' the execution of all the four convicts in the case. The parents of the victim urged the court to expeditiously decide the Centre's plea and were assured by the judge that the order would be passed at the earliest.
The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Monday the plea of Mukesh, who has also sought quashing of all orders passed by courts and the rejection of his mercy petition by the President since the day his curative petition was dismissed by the apex court.
He was later taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where his condition is stated to be stable.
The death row convicts moved a Delhi court with a plea to adjourn the execution 'sine die' saying they are yet to avail their remaining legal remedies.
Jail officials said that after the death warrants were issued, the convicts were asked when they would like to meet their respective families for the last time, but none of them has responded yet. They are scheduled to be hanged on February 1.
Asha Devi said that justice was delayed, but not denied, and added that they would continue their fight for justice for India's daughters.
Irani said urgent steps are needed to ensure that such "mockery of justice" does not take place anymore.
'Capital punishments have rarely acted as a deterrent. What we need to do is to make our society, our workplaces, our streets safe for women'
'Our Nari Shakti has excelled in every field. Together, we have to build a nation where the focus is on women empowerment, where there is emphasis on equality and opportunity,' the PM said.
This is the first time that four men will be hanged together in Tihar jail.
Gupta, against whom the death warrant has been issued for execution along with three other condemned prisoners on March 3, has filed the curative plea saying that the death penalty should not awarded to him, his counsel A P Singh said.
The neighbours of an accused in the December 16 gang rape case on Thursday claimed in a Delhi court that he was attending a music function with friends and was not in the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped by six persons.
The top court rejected the contention of Sharma that he is mentally ill and said his medical report suggests he is stable.
Hours after the clemency plea of Vinay Kumar Sharma, 26, was dismissed by the President, Akshay Thakur, 31, a third death row convict, filed a mercy petition.
The CJI said one of his relatives had earlier appeared on behalf of the victim's mother in the case and observed that it would be appropriate that some other bench hear the review plea at 10:30 am.
Akshay moves SC, saying death penalty entails 'cold blooded killing'. The SC has already rejected review pleas of 3 other convicts.
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