Convicts won't be able to escape gallows: Nirbhaya's father

The father of the 23-year-old paramedic student, who was raped and brutally assaulted by six men in the national capital in December 2012, on Thursday said the convicts will not be able to escape the gallows, despite all the legal tactics they may employ.

After the gruesome incident, the paramedic student was flown to Singapore for treatment, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Her father's remarks came after a Delhi court directed the Tihar Jail authorities on Thursday to file a proper report by Friday on the status of the scheduled execution of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora passed the directions after the jail authorities said they had written to the Delhi government on the issue of the scheduled execution on January 22 in view of the pending mercy plea of one of the convicts.

The court was hearing a plea moved by one of the four death-row convicts in the case, Mukesh Kumar Singh, seeking postponement of the date of his execution on the ground that his mercy petition was pending with the president.

Nirbhaya's father said the court will decide on the future course of action on Friday.

"We have not lost hope. There is no law for the victim's family but there are legal remedies available to the convicts, which is why the problems are arising," he said.

However, he said they had not lost hope and their fight for justice will continue.

"Justice is not far and their hanging is not far. They should prepare themselves for the hanging. They might delay it, but it will happen," he added.