Nirbhaya case: President rejects mercy plea filed by convict Pawan Gupta

New Delhi, Mar 04: President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the four convicts in the Delhi gangrape case.

A Delhi court on Monday deferred till further order the hanging of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case.

Hanging of the four convicts was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 am.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan.

The court passed the order on Pawan's plea seeking to stay the execution as he has filed a mercy petition before the President on Monday.

A 23-year-old woman paramedic student, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya -- the fearless -- was gang-raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012.

She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore where she was taken for better medical treatment.

A total of six people -- Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile -- were convicted in the gang rape and murder of the paramedic student here.

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

While Ram Singh had committed suicide in jail, the juvenile was released from a remand home after completion of his term.