2012 Delhi gang rape case: Tihar jail authorities move court seeking fresh date for hanging; matter to be heard at 2 pm

Shortly after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Kumar Gupt a, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case, Tihar Jail authorities on Wednesday moved a city court seeking fresh date for the execution of four  convicts. The court scheduled the hearing for 2 pm on Thursday. Additional Sessions Judge Dharemender Rana scheduled the matter for Thursday saying that under the principles of natural justice, the convicts and their counsel Advocate AP Singh need to be notified about the prison authorities’ application. Judge Rana issued notice to the convicts and sought a response on the application. [caption id=“attachment_8110781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the 2012 Delhi gangrape convicts. PTI[/caption] Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed informed the court that with the rejection of Gupta’s mercy plea, the convicts had now exhausted all the legal option available to them. He told the court that the jail authorities had informed Gupta that his mercy petition had been rejected and asked the court to issue a fresh date for execution today itself. Earlier in the day, a Home Ministry official said that the president had rejected Gupta’s mercy petition. The President has already rejected the mercy petitions of the other three convicts — Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31). The trial court had on 17 February issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for 3 March at 6 am for the four convicts. However, the court had on 2 March stayed their hanging as Gupta’s mercy petition was pending before the president. On 16 December , 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, was gang raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died after a fortnight. A total of six people - Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile - were convicted in the gang rape and murder of the paramedic student. While Ram Singh had committed suicide in jail, the juvenile was released from a remand home after completion of his term. With inputs from PTI