Give us Delhi police for 2 days, we will hang Nirbhaya convicts: Dy CM Manish Sisodia
New Delhi, Jan 16: "Give us Delhi Police and law-and-order responsibility for two days and we will hang Nirbhaya convicts," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday, hitting back at the BJP for holding the AAP government responsible for the "delay" in the hanging.
Sisodia's retort came hours after Union minister Prakash Javadekar blamed the AAP government's "negligence" for the "delay" in the hanging of the four convicts, saying it took more than two-and-a-half years for the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation to give notice to the rapists after the Supreme Court rejected their appeal against the death sentence in 2017.
Terming it "unfortunate" that such a senior member of the Union Cabinet was "lying" on such a sensitive matter, the Delhi deputy chief minister said that he understands that the BJP "does not have issues to raise" in the upcoming polls but it does not mean that "they would do politics on such issues".
"Javadekar ji the police is under you, the responsibility of law and order is under you, the Home Ministry is under you, the Tihar DG and administration are under you and you are blaming us? Please don't stoop so low on a sensitive issue. This is a clear attempt to instigate people," he said.
"I want to ask you (Javadekar) why are you not taking responsibility. If you are not able to handle law and order of Delhi, give us Delhi police and law and order responsibility for two days and we will hang Nirbhaya convicts," Sisodia told reporters.
The AAP government told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case -- will not be hanged on January 22 as scheduled because one of them has moved a mercy plea and according to the prison rules, they cannot be executed till they exhaust all of their remedies under the law.
The four rapists were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.
As authorities and the victim's mother contended that the four men were "frustrating" and "intentionally" delaying the legal process by filing curative and mercy pleas in stages to postpone their execution, the Delhi government recommended rejecting Mukesh Kumar Singh's mercy plea to the President and forwarded it to the Lieutenant Governor.
Sisodia told reporters that the action was taken at "lightning speed".
The Delhi government and prison authorities had told a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that under the prison rules, if death sentence has been awarded to more than one person in a case and if only one of them moves a mercy plea, the execution of the others too has to be postponed till the plea is decided.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
