Nirbhaya Rape Convicts Won't be Hanged Tomorrow as Court Postpones Execution Warrant Till Further Orders

New Delhi: None of the Nirbhaya rape and murder convicts will be hanged on Saturday, a Delhi court has ruled, postponing the execution of their death warrant after the inmates sought a stay on their hanging which was scheduled for 6 am on February 1.

No new date for the execution of the four death row inmates has been issued yet.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana had earlier on Friday heard the arguments of Tihar Jail authorities and the convicts' lawyer. Challenging the application of three inmates seeing a stay on the execution, Tihar authorities had told the court that only one convict's mercy plea is pending and the others can be hanged.

The convicts' lawyer disagreed with the jail authorities and said rules dictate that when one convict's plea is pending, the others cannot be hanged.

Advocate AP Singh, representing the convicts -- Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar – had urged the court to adjourn the executions "sine die" (with no appointed date for resumption). Vinay's mercy plea before the president is pending.

The fourth person sentenced to death in the case is Mukesh Kumar, whose mercy plea was dismissed by President Ramnath Kovind on January 17. The appeal against the rejection was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The trial court on January 17 issued black warrants for the second time for the execution of all the four convicts in the case in Tihar jail at 6 am on February 1. Earlier, on January 7, the court had fixed January 22 as the hanging date.

The curative petitions of Vinay and Akshay have been rejected by the apex court. Pawan is the only one yet not to file a curative plea. Convicts have the option of moving a mercy petition before the president only after the apex court dismisses their curative plea.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless one) was gang-raped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.