President has rejected the mercy petitions of Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Kumar Gupta and Akshay Singh Thakur (Photo Credit: Composite Image)
New Delhi:
A Delhi court is expected to issue fresh date for the execution of four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on Thursday. The Delhi government had moved to the court on Wednesday seeking fresh death warrants for the four convicts saying their all legal remedies are exhausted. The government made the move after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four convicts, in the case. The President has already rejected the mercy petitions of Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Singh Thakur.
The trial court had on February 17 had issued a fresh date, March 3 at 6 am, for the execution of death warrants for the four convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay (31) -- in the case. However, the court on Monday had to defer the hanging the convicts till further order due to Pawan's mercy plea being pending. The execution of their death warrants has been deferred thrice so far due to delays by them in exhausting legal remedies. All the convicts in the case are to be hanged together.
A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was gang raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012. She had died after a fortnight due to her injuries. Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case. The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.
(With PTI Inputs)
