Convicts in Nirbhaya case cannot be hanged separately, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case have to be executed together, not separately and dismissed the Centre's plea against the trial court's order staying the execution of their death sentence.

The high court also faulted the authorities concerned for not taking steps for issuance of death warrant after the rejection of appeals of the accused by the Supreme Court in 2017.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait directed the convicts to exhaust within seven days all the remedies available to them after which the authorities should act as per law.

The high court however said: "It cannot be disputed that the convicts have frustrated the process by using delaying tactics." The Centre and the Delhi government had challenged the trial court's January 31 order staying "till further orders" the execution of all the four convicts in the case -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31), who are lodged in Tihar Jail.