Nirbhaya case: Delhi court fixes March 20 for execution of four convicts

A Delhi court Thursday issued a fresh date, March 20 at 5.30 am, for execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana fixed the new date after being informed by the Delhi government that the convicts have exhausted all their legal remedies.

The death row convicts are: Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).

Their lawyer told the court that there was no legal impediment for it in proceeding to fix the date of execution.

The Delhi government had on Wednesday moved court seeking fresh date for the execution hours after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of Pawan.

The Delhi government had told the court that all legal remedies of the convicts have been exhausted and nothing survives now.

The lawyer for the prosecution also said no notice was required.

The court had on Monday deferred till further order the hanging the convicts that was scheduled for Tuesday.

The execution of their death warrants has been deferred thrice so far due to delays by them in exhausting legal remedies. All the convicts in the case are to be hanged together.

The President had already rejected the mercy petitions of Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was gang raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012. She had died after a fortnight.

Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case.

The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.