Centre seeks 7-day deadline for hanging death row convicts

Centre moves
Supreme Court for fixing a deadline of seven days for execution of death
penalty of condemned prisoners after issuance of black warrant.

Govt
stressed that “need of the hour” was to lay down guidelines in
“the interest of the victims” rather than keeping the rights of the
convicts in mind.

MHA seeks a
direction “to mandate all competent courts, state governments, prison
authorities in country to issue death warrant of a convict within seven days of
rejection of his mercy petition to execute death sentence within 7 days
thereafter irrespective of stage of review petition/curative petition/mercy
petition of his co-convicts.

Centre moves
Supreme Court for fixing as deadline of seven days for execution of death
penalty of condemned prisoners after issuance of black warrant.

The plea of
the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assumes significance in view of the death
row convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012
filing review, curative and mercy petitions, which has delayed their hanging.

The
government stressed that the “need of the hour” was to lay down
guidelines in “the interest of the victims” rather than keeping the
rights of the convicts in mind.