Nirbhaya case convicts to be hanged on Feb 1 at 6 am; fresh death warrant issued

New Delhi, Jan 17: A Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrant for the four men convicted of the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi in 2012. The four will now be executed at 6 am on February 1

The new warrant was issued hours after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy petition filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts.

The four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 a.m. in Tihar Jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.

A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

The Supreme Court had in 2017 upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and a trial court.

One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.