Nirbhaya: Convicts lawyer move court again, may lead to delay in execution

New Delhi, January 24: The lawyer of Nirbhaya gangrape murder case convicts filed a fresh plea on Friday before the Patiala House Court, alleging that the Tihar jail authorities are delaying in handing over certain documents. The plea may lead to further delay in the execution of Nirbhaya convicts, as the rules mandate the convicts to exhaust all their legal remedies before facing the gallows.

Advocate A P Singh moved an application alleging that the jail authorities are yet to release the documents which are required to file curative petitions for Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Singh (25).

The fourth convict, Mukesh Singh (32), has exhausted his curative plea and submitted a mercy plea before the President.

The plea is likely to be taken up for hearing on Saturday.

The apex court recently dismissed the curative petition for other two convicts --Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh (32).

The hanging of all four is to take place on February 1 at 6 am as per the court order.

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 she was thrown out on the road.

A total of six persons were convicted for gangraping and murdering a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi on December 16, 2012. Among the six convicts, one juvenile was let off after serving three-year sentence at a Juvenile Justice Home, whereas, a major convict - Ram Singh - committed suicide inside the Tihar Jail premises. The death penalty of four other convicts was upheld by the Supreme Court last year.