We have not lost hope, says Nirbhaya's father

After Delhi Court stayed the execution of four death row convicts in 2012-Delhi gang rape and murder case, victims father Badrinath Singh said he has not lost hope.

"We are not disappointed. We have not lost hope. Of course, the death warrant has been dismissed multiple times, but we hope that the culprits will be hanged at the earliest," said Singh.

However, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said, "Why is court taking so much time in order to hang the convicts? Repeated postponing of the execution shows the failure of our system. Our entire system supports criminals."

A Delhi court on Monday stayed the execution of four death row convicts in the case and deferred the matter for further orders.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana had earlier today 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.

During the hearing, advocate AP Singh said that he filed the mercy petition before the President of India on behalf of convict Pawan Gupta as soon as he received the information that the convict's curative petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier today.

Public prosecutor Irfan Ahmed, on the other hand, opposed the application and contended that this plea was premature and not maintainable adding that as per the prison rules, the President will seek a report from jail authorities and the execution will be stayed suo motu.

Earlier today, the court had also dismissed an application seeking a stay on the execution of the death warrant but slated to hear a petition afresh after advocate AP Singh informed the court that the mercy petition of convict Pawan Gupta was filed before the President.