Nirbhaya case: War of words in poll-bound Delhi

With three weeks to go for Delhi Assembly elections, the war of words over the “delay” in the execution of Nirbhaya intensified on Friday with the BJP accusing the AAP government of ignoring the tears of the victim's mother and providing the juvenile convict with money and a sewing kit after his release.

Even as BJP and AAP locked horns over the issue with the latter rebutting the former's claims as “baseless”, Congress leader Kirti Azad added more drama by tweeting a “welcome” to the victim's mother while commenting on a tweet by a journalist that spoke about his party fielding her against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra, however, denied any such plans.

As the victim's mother Asha Devi accused the AAP of delaying the conviction saying those who protested earlier on the incident was now playing politics, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said she was being “misguided” and there was no delay on the part of his government. “We have hardly any role in this. Police or law and order are not with us. Our role is limited to processing the file. It is Centre's role,” he said.

Taking forward the BJP attack on AAP from Thursday, the BJP fielded Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, who accused the AAP government of providing Rs 10,000 and a sewing kit to the juvenile convict in the case after his release, countered Kejriwal. AAP leaders said the allegations by Irani on providing aid to the juvenile convict was “baseless”, as it only followed the guidelines set by the Centre.

"Why was the prison department, which comes under the AAP government, sleeping after the dismissal of review petition in July 2018? Why did the government give Rs 10,000 and sewing kit to juvenile rapist when he was released? Didn't they see tears of Nirbhaya's mother?”

The BJP had on Thursday too raised the issue of delay putting the blame at the doorsteps of Kejriwal government with Union Minister Prakash Javadekar saying the only reason that the convicts are still not hanged is the “negligence” of the AAP administration.

On his part, Kejriwal said the victim's mother was "misguided" while accusing the BJP of politicising the matter.

"We sent the mercy petition within hours, so the Delhi government has no role in delaying the hanging of the convicts...Why would our government try to delay, we want them hanged at the earliest. I think she is being misguided. The Delhi government barely has any role in the whole process," he said.

Meanwhile, all the four convicts in Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were on Thursday shifted to Jail No 3 of Tihar Prison complex from Jail No 2. In Tihar, the executions take place in Jail No 3.

Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta were convicted in the gangrape of a 23-year-old para-medic in a moving bus in south Delhi on 16 December, 2012. She was thrown out of the bus naked after the rape along with her male friend who was accompanying her and succumbed to her injuries later. Another death row convicts Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail while a convicted minor was released after he completed his sentence in a juvenile home.