‘Won’t Live as His Widow,’ Says Wife of Nirbhaya Convict as She Files For Divorce

All the four convicts of Nirbhaya -- Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) are currently lodged in Tihar jail and are set to be hanged on March 20.

New Delhi: In a rather unusual ploy to delay the execution in 2012 Delhi gangrape case, Nirbhaya convict Akshay Kumar’s wife on Tuesday filed for a divorce in a local court in Bihar saying she will not live the life as his widow claiming that her husband was ‘innocent’.

“My husband is innocent. I want to be legally divorced before he is hanged,” said Punita Devi, wife of Nirbhaya convict Akshay Kumar Singh who is set to be hanged on March 20.

Speaking to reporters in Aurangabad, Punita’s lawyer Mukesh Kumar Singh said, “My client (Akshay Kumar Singh’s wife Punita Singh) has a right to seek a divorce from her husband. That is why I have filed a plea in the family court. She has the right to seek divorce under Section 13(2)(II) of Hindu Marriage Act which says a woman can seek divorce if the husband has, since the solemnisation of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality.”

The court has posted the matter for March 19.

All the four convicts of Nirbhaya — Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) are currently lodged in Tihar jail and are set to be hanged on March 20. They have been repeatedly using tactics to delay the hanging and have even approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and India’s Human Rights Commission.

However, some legal experts feel that there is no chance of any further delay as all formalities have been completed and the convicts have exhausted all legal remedies.

With IANS inputs