At District Judge Yashwant Kumar’s courtroom in Patiala House Court on 25 November, Nirbhaya’s parents sought a transfer of their case to another judge. Their matter will now be heard on 28 November.
Nirbhaya’s parents had filed a petition in December 2018 to expedite the process of death penalty given to the four convicts by the Supreme Court in the brutal Nirbhaya gang rape case in 2012. However, due to a lack of judge in the court, the matter had not been heard for two months.
The petition that was heard on Monday, 25 November, was filed by Nirbhaya’s parents’ lawyer to seek a transfer of the case to another Additional Sessions judge as their assigned judge’s position was lying vacant.
“For the last two months, the court has been vacant, as a result of which, I filed a transfer petition at the court of the District Judge. The transfer petition was to transfer the case to a different judge. It has been granted, the case will now be heard on 28 November at the court of Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.”Seema Samriddhi Kushwaha, Nirbhaya’s Parents’ Advocate
Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother, believes that the court must give the date of the execution of the convicted rapists as soon as possible.
“I have been struggling for the last seven years to get justice for my daughter and my family. It is my appeal to the prime minister and the president of this country to dismiss mercy petitions of the convicts and give them a date for the execution.”Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother
The Supreme Court had in 2017 confirmed death penalty to the four convicts. There were six men who had brutally gang-raped Nirbhaya in a moving bus in New Delhi on 16 December 2012. One of the convicts, Ram Singh, had allegedly killed himself in Tihar Jail, while another convict, who was a minor, was sent to a correction home and then released.
Only Vinay Kumar, who is one of the convicts, has so far filed a mercy petition.
“Tihar Jail authorities had informed the Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts that they have exhausted all legal remedies and are only left with the provision of filing a mercy petition against the death sentence before the President. They had received the notice on October 29.”Director General of Tihar Jail, Sandeep Goel to IANS.
Their matter will not be heard in the Delhi court on 28 November.
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