Aurangabad: Wife of Akshay Kumar, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case, filed divorce on Tuesday in a family court in 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'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."
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 the 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.
(IANS REPORT)
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