Delhi court dismisses Nirbhaya convicts' plea seeking stay on execution

A Delhi court on Monday dismissed an application moved by death row convicts Akshay Singh Thakur and Pawan Gupta in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, seeking a stay on the execution of the death warrant.

The four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh -- are scheduled to be hanged at 6 am on March 3.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said that the court will hear the matter afresh post 2 pm after convicts' lawyer AP Singh informed the court that Pawan Gupta has also filed a mercy petition before the President of India.

Advocate AP Singh said that Pawan Gupta's curative petition was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier today.

Singh had on Saturday informed the court that a "complete" mercy petition of the convict Akshay Thakur has been moved before the President of India claiming that the earlier one, which was dismissed, did not have the "complete facts".

President Ram Nath Kovind had on February 5 rejected the mercy petition of convict Akshay Thakur. So far, mercy petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh have also been rejected.

The case pertains to the brutal gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.