Nirbhaya's mother thanks President for rejecting convict's mercy plea

Delhi gang-rape victim Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Wednesday thanked President Ram Nath Kovind for rejecting the mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the case.

Speaking to ANI she said, "First of all I would like to thank President Ram Nath Kovind for rejecting last mercy plea of Pawan Gupta. We will now apply for a new death warrant and hope that the execution will take place on time."

She said that though she will not be satisfied until the convicts are hanged, but is happy that they are now left with no remedy.

"I don't know how satisfied I am, all I can say is I will not be fully satisfied until they are hanged. But I am happy that they have run out of all legal remedies and now this death warrant will be final. No remedy will be a hurdle in the way of execution," she said.

She said that she had heard about the postponement of hearing in the court but for the first time she has seen the postponement of the date of execution.

"I had heard about deferring of hearings in the court, but I am seeing it for the first time deferment of execution of the convicts. It shows the shortcomings of our legal system," she told ANI.

"I had also had said that the whole world is looking at this case and there are thousands of families like us whose morale has been shaken," she added.

"I have been and will continue to trust justice and my hope is that they will be hanged now," she said.

Nirbhaya's father Badrinath Singh said that no matter what the culprits will be hanged. "Asha ji has put in a lot of efforts and this will be the final date for the execution," he said.

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.