Tihar jail to approach Delhi court seeking new date for Nirbhaya convicts' execution

Tihar Jail authorities will approach a Delhi court, seeking a new date for the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, an official said on Saturday.

According to Tihar officials, the prison authorities are approaching the Patiala House court for fixing a new date for the execution of all four convicts in view of the rejection of convict Vinay's mercy petition by the President.

This comes after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of second death row convict -- Vinay Sharma -- in the case, earlier today.

Meanwhile, Akshay Thakur, another death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, on Saturday filed a mercy petition before the President of India. Thakur has become the third convict in the case to file a mercy petition before the President.

So far, President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petitions of convicts Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh in the matter.

A Delhi court had on Friday stayed till further orders the execution of four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalising 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.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.