Convict Mukesh moves court for postponing execution date in Nirbhaya gang rape-murder case

One of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, Mukesh Kumar Singh approached a Delhi court Wednesday seeking postponement of the date of his execution on the ground that his mercy petition is pending with the President.

The plea was mentioned before Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora who has issued notice to the state and parents of the victim for Thursday.

The court asked the counsel for Mukesh to supply an advance copy of the plea to the prosecutor.

Mukesh's counsel moved the trial court immediately after the Delhi High Court declined to entertain his plea to set aside the January 7 order issuing his death warrant and asked them to approach the lower court.

After the Supreme Court dismissed his curative petition on Tuesday, he moved a mercy petition before the President on the same day.

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being thrown out on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.