Authorities at the Tihar jail moved a Delhi court Wednesday to seek a fresh date for the execution of the four men on the death row in the Nribhaya gang-rape and murder case. The court has issued notices to the four convicts and will hear the matter at 2 pm on Thursday.
The development followed the President rejecting a mercy petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the four convicts. The President has already rejected the mercy petition of the three other convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh. On three previous occasions, the Patiala House Court had issued the death warrants for the four convicts and set the date of their executions.
However, the executions were deferred all the times due to pending petitions/pleas filed by the four convicts. A mercy petition,
technically, is last legal remedy available to person on the death row in India.
The four men have been convicted for the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya. She was gang-raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore where she was taken for medical treatment.
Apart from the four, two others were accused of being involved in the crime. One of them -- Ram Singh -- committed suicide in jail while the other -- a juvenile -- was sent to a rehabilitation home and released after three years.
The Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case sparked nationwide protests and led to tougher laws on rape and crime against women.