Preparations for Nirbhaya hangings begin

January 9, 2020

A dummy execution will be carried out soon at Delhi’s Tihar jail. This is to prepare for the 22 January hangings of the four convicts sentenced to death for the 2012 gang-rape and murder of Nirbhaya.

Convicts Pawan Gupta, Akshay, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh will be hanged at 7 am on 22 January 22. They will be hanged together for the first time in India. A wider area is being prepared for the execution.

A “dummy execution”, which involves testing the hanging area using weights,.

Tihar to conduct dummy execution in coming days. but not today. It will be done in jail 3, where the execution will take place. – Tihar Jail statement

For the preparation, officials of the Public Works Department, the jail superintendent and other officials will be present. The four convicts are being kept in solitary confinement. They will be allowed a last meeting with a family member.

There is news that one of the lawyers of the rapists plans to file a petition. In this case the execution may be put on hold.

Nirbhaya, a young medical student, was gang-raped and tortured with an iron rod on a moving bus before being dumped on the road on 16 December, 2012. She died on 29 December. Six men were arrested.

Ram Singh, one of the main accused, was found hanging in his jail cell. The sixth man, who was a minor, was released after three years at a reform home.