The Delhi high court will hear on a day-to-day basis from Wednesday arguments for confirmation of the death penalty awarded by a trial court to four persons for the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on December 16 last year.
On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Reva Khetrapal and Pratibha Rani decided to hear the death reference on a day-to-day basis from Wednesday. The four convicts — Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) — were produced before the bench which had on Monday issued production warrants against them. The bench asked the convicts if they wanted to file appeals against their conviction and capital punishment. When they responded in the affirmative, the court asked them to file their appeals while it heard arguments for confirmation of the death sentence awarded to them, as referred to it by the trial court. The four convicts were produced before the bench in the presence of a strong police posse. When the convicts were being brought to the courtroom by the police personnel, a group of women started shouting that they be allowed to beat the four offenders. The police stopped the women and others from entering the packed courtroom.
During the hearing, the court also rejected the contention of the convicts’ counsel who opposed early hearing of the reference. Advocate V.K. Anand, representing convict Mukesh, told the court that he will file an appeal within the stipulated time (30 days) give by the trial court. He said the court should hear the reference along with the appeal of the convicts. Advocate Vivek Sharma, appearing for Pawan, also made a similar request to the bench, saying the court should hear the matter at least after one week. Counsel A.P. Singh submitted that he will appear for convicts Akshay and Vinay.
The bench, however, declined their request, saying, “We will not dispose of the reference till you file your appeal, but nothing prevents us from hearing the background of the case. We were told that there are four bags of documents and the State can open the case from tomorrow. Only one counsel can attend the proceedings to note down the points. You all counsel need not be present in the court. It is in the interest of justice that the matter should be heard from tomorrow. Sword is also hanging on their (convicts) heads. It is also in their interest that the court should start hearing the death reference at the earliest,” the bench said.