Nirbhaya case: Four convicts to be executed on March 20

Nirbhaya case: Delhi court fixes Mar 20 as date of execution of 4 convicts

New Delhi: A Delhi court Thursday issued fresh death warrants for execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case for March 20 at 5:30 am.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana fixed March 20 as the new date of execution after it was told by the Delhi government that the convicts have exhausted all their legal remedies.

The lawyer for the four death row convicts also told the court that there was no legal impediment for court in proceeding to fix the date of execution.

The Delhi government had on Wednesday moved the court seeking fresh date for the execution of four Nirbhaya case convicts.

The move came after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four men facing the gallows in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

Though the first death warrant for the four convicts were issued for January 22, it was later postponed to February 1 and later March 3 as the convicts had not exhausted all the legal options available to them.  

The trial court had on February 17 issued a date for execution of death warrants for March 3 at 6 am for the four convicts -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31).

However, the execution was delayed further as the Pawan Kumar's mercy petition was pending with the President. The President has already rejected the mercy petitions of Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay.

Since, there are no more petitions pending on behalf of the convicts in any court, it is likely that the latest death warrant is the final one.  

On December 16, 2012, 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. She died after a fortnight.  

(With inputs from PTI.)

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