Stay on execution of Nirbhaya case convicts a cruel joke: Sonal Mansingh

Rajya Sabha MP Sonal Mansingh on Tuesday termed the stay on the execution of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case as the "cruellest joke".

Speaking to ANI she said, "I can only say that it is the cruellest joke possible, it is totally unacceptable."

"Is it a joke on legal system or the victim...womanhood? what is it?" she asked further.

Earlier on Monday, a Delhi court stayed the execution of four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case and deferred the matter till further orders.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana had reserved the order on a petition filed by Pawan Gupta after hearing arguments from all the sides in the matter.

The execution of the convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh -- was earlier scheduled to take place on the morning of March 3.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder 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.