Delhi: The lawyer representing the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, AP Singh, talked to the media on Tuesday and implied that the convicts too had the support of the public. He had, during the last hearing last week, challenged the victim's mother saying there will be no hangings, even though a verdict to that effect was given.
On January 7, the Delhi court had ordered the 4 convicts to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. However, this date was cancelled after convict Mukesh Singh filed a mercy plea with the president. When this was rejected, Vinay Sharma filed a mercy petition, forcing the court to cancel the date. The president rejected the second petition and within hours, the third convict had filed his mercy petition, drawing the trial out again.
The mercy petitions filed by the defence, in itself, is curious. "In Vedas, Puranas, and Upanishads it is mentioned that in Satyug, people lived for thousands of years. In Treta Yug, men lived for 100 years. But, in this era - Kalyug - the age of humans is reduced to 50-60 years. If the human life span is already reducing, what was the reason for a death sentence when convicts would die early anyway.... Delhi's air is like a 'gas chamber' and its water is 'poisonous', leading to a shortened life for the four accused anyway...." says Akshay Singh's petition.
The Delhi court had to reserve its orders after the petitions-game began. The mercy plea of the third death row convict Akshay Thakur is pending. The fourth convict is yet to file a mercy petition.
"There are four mothers on the side of the convicts. On the other (victim's side), there is one mother. India will not tolerate five deaths to avenge one," said AP Singh, reported the ANI.
The lawyer also claimed that there the Delhi High Court was rushing the procedure for this case. "Why only, in this case, there is a hurry? Justice hurried is justice buried," Singh reportedly asked the media. It has to be noted that the crime had happened in December 2012, around 7 years ago. The trial of the same has been in court since 2013.
