Delhi Judge Satish Kumar Arora on Friday issued a fresh black warrant to execute the four men convicted for the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on a cold December night in 2012. Judge Arora, who had signed the January 22 death warrant for the four convicts earlier this month, issued the new order after he was informed about the rejection of a mercy plea filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts.
During the hearing minutes before additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora signed off on the new warrant, the court had heard lawyers of the convict point out that two appeals were still pending before higher courts.
One was a special leave petition, filed by Pawan Gupta in the Supreme Court to claim that he was a minor when the offence took place. Gupta had made the claim before the Delhi High Court too but the high court had trashed the claim and fined his lawyer Rs 25,000.
Arora did not take the appeals into account when he declared the new date.
“I am issuing a fresh death warrant for February 1 at 6 am,” Arora said in a one-line order.
The rape victim’s mother who has been following up on the case for the last seven years was disappointed.
“I will fight and I will keep struggling… I will wait,” she said, upset that the judge had cancelled the previous warrant for January 22.
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