Varanasi: Irked by the stay on the execution of the rape convicts in Nirbhaya case a kinner (transgender) Anushka with her group performed ‘Shiv Tandav’ (a divine dance by Lord Shiva) at a Shiva temple in Ballia, the home district of Nirbhaya.
“The delay in execution of the convicts puts a question mark on the judicial system of the country. We want that the rapists should be executed without any further delay,” said Anushka adding that they performed Shiv Tandav dance to express their anguish over the delay.
Nirbhaya, native of Ballia district, was gang raped and brutalized in a running bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012. On January 7, 2020 a death warrant was issued for the Nirbhaya rapists by a Delhi court, setting an execution date of January 22, 2020 at 7am IST in Tihar Jail. Convict Mukesh filed a mercy plea. On 17 January 2020, the president of India rejected the mercy plea of the convict Mukesh Singh. On 17 January 2020, hours after the rejection of the mercy plea, a Delhi court issued a second death warrant for the convicts to be hanged after a mandatory fourteen days gap on 1 February at 6 am. On 17 January, convict Pawan appealed in the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order that rejected his claim that Pawan was a juvenile during the crime in 2012. On 31 January, a Delhi court stayed the death warrant. The judge did not issue a fresh warrant for their execution.
