Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday held Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government responsible for the delay in the execution of death sentence awarded to the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case.
"The appeal of the convicts was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2017 but jail authorities took more than a year to complete the process for informing the convicts. The delay is due to the state government," Javadekar said in Rajya Sabha.
The minister's comment came after AAP MP Sanjay Singh's request for intervention of President Ram Nath Kovind and the Supreme Court for speedy execution of death sentence awarded to the convicts.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court on Sunday reserved its order on a plea filed by the central government and Tihar Jail authorities challenging the order of Patiala House district court which stayed the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Centre, had alleged that the convicts were deliberately delaying the execution, adding that any delay in death sentence will have a dehumsing effect on the convicts.
A Delhi court has stayed till further orders the execution of the four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.
The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutal murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people, including a juvenile, in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.
( With inputs from ANI )