Nirbhaya convicts receive mental health counselling daily as court stays execution date

To ensure that the convicts in the Nirbhaya case don’t harm themselves, Tihar jail authorities are taking every precaution available which includes the deployment of as many as 16 wardens/guards outside their cells in which they have been in solitary confinement. Besides, the inmates - Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24), Vinay Sharma (25) and Akshay Kumar Singh (33) – are being provided with counselling services daily for about 15-20 minutes. The convicts are also being made to undergo a physical examination every day. They are also CCTV cameras screening the premises with rooms being bereft of ceiling fans.

News just came in saying that a Delhi court has stayed the earlier order of the quartet to be hanged on January 22 as a mercy petition of one of the convicts is to be reviewed. The convicts will also be given time to decide about the wages they earnt in prison and to draw up a will, if necessary.

The four were convicted and handed a death sentence earlier this month for brutally raping and murdering a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, way back in 2012 in Delhi.