Retired Justice of Supreme Court, Kurian Joseph advocated the idea of sending the 2012 Nirbhaya case convicts behind bars instead of execution. Justice Joseph questioned whether such crimes would stop with their execution. He said Justice does not mean life for life, the absence of freedom is the worst fate a person can have. Justice Joseph emphasised that if the accused are sent to jail then society could be told that this would be their fate if they commit such a crime. He said, “By hanging these people, will such type of crimes stop? In Bachan Singh case, Supreme Court had said that the death penalty can be handed over in rarest of the rare cases, and that too, only when all other options are unquestionably foreclosed.” After three decided dates of hanging gone by, Akshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32 are expected to be hanged at 5:30 pm on March 20.
