Execution of Nirbhaya convicts won't take place on Jan 22: Standing Counsel for Tihar Jail authorities

Standing Counsel for Tihar Jail authorities Advocate Rahul Mehra on Wednesday said that the execution of convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case will not take place on January 22.

He further stated that the fate of a death convict comes to finality only after his mercy plea is rejected by the President

"It can only take place 14 days after the mercy plea is rejected as we are bound by the rule which says that a notice of 14 days must be provided to the convicts after the rejection of mercy plea," he added.

Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in the gang-rape and murder of paramedic student in 2012, has informed the Delhi High Court that his mercy petition is pending before the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the President of India and he should be given a minimum 14 days notice between the rejection of his mercy petition and scheduled date of execution.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has refused to set aside the trial court order which issued death warrant.

Delhi High Court had asked convict Mukesh's counsel to approach trial court and apprise the court about the pending mercy plea.

The Supreme Court had already dismissed curative petitions of the two death row convicts, including Mukesh Singh, in 2012 gang-rape case.

Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh had moved the curative petitions in the top court after a Delhi court issued death warrants in their names for their hanging on January 22.

Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi's Tihar Jail premises.

They were convicted and sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in the national capital on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, had succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.