Nirbhaya convict's wife moves court for divorce

New Delhi: In yet another ploy to delay hanging, wife of a Nirbhaya convict has filed for a divorce in a local court in Bihar's Aurangabad.

In the plea, the wife of convict Akshay Kumar Singh has said she does not want to live the life of a widow as her husband is set to be hanged on March 20. The court has posted the matter for March 19.

Punita, Akshaya's wife, has said, "My husband is innocent. I want to be legally divorced before he is hanged."

Punita's lawyer Mukesh Kumar Singh, speaking to media in Aurangabad said, "My client (Akshay Kumar Singh's wife Punita Singh) has a right to seek 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."

A senior lawyer at Tis Hazari court in Delhi told IANS, "Yes, the woman can file for divorce if her husband has been convicted in a case of rape."

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 using tactics to delay the hanging, which has already been postponed twice. They have even approached international court 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.