Its, indeed, a travesty of justice that a hapless mother desperately crying for execution of her daughter's rapists has to sit outside a trial court premises over the delay in justice. It is said, " justice delayed is justice denied".
The mother protests come right after the trial court ruled that one of the four death row convicts of Nirbhaya's rape case is entitled to legal aid till his last breath
The date of execution, first fixed for January 22, has been delayed many times. It was postponed to February 1 by a January 17 order. The trial court later, on January 31 stayed, "till further orders" the execution of the four convicts.
All mothers, father, brothers and sisters have full sympathy with Nirbhaya's mother but law is blind. Its not driven by the emotions. Court and judges go by rules of the law. And Indian law of jurisprudence make it abundantly clear that even a death convict has right to legal aid and recourse till his last breath. That's the beauty of Indian jurisprudence though on the face of it, the law appears harsh and patience-testing for the victims and their family.
The hanging of Nirbhaya's convicts is imminent and at best can be just postponed for a few days. Capital punishment is a legal penalty in India. Since 1995, It has been carried out in five cases. The most recent was in 2015. As per data. as many as 755 executions have been carried out in India since 1947. The first hanging in Independent India was that of Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case on 15 November 1949.
In 2007, United Nations General Assembly resolution called for a moratorium on the death penalty. However, India voted against it. In November 2012, India again voted against the UN General Assembly draft resolution seeking to end the institution of capital punishment globally.
The Law Commission of India in 2015 had also recommended the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes , excepting the crime of waging war against the nation or for terrorism-related offences. However, it was not accepted by the govt. Had the recommendation been accepted, all Nirbhaya's convict would have been spared of death penalty. Thank God, it hasn't happened.
(Chander Sharma)