Nirbhaya gangrape case: Delhi court denies stay on death warrants, all convicts to be hanged on Friday
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The Supreme Court also rejected the plea filed by Akshay Thakur challenging the decision of the President of India rejecting his mercy plea.
Delhi's Patiala House Court on Thursday rejected all petitions of the convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape case who sought a stay on their execution scheduled for March 20.
At exactly 5.30 am on Friday the four men -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma -- will be hanged simultaneously inside jail number 3.
The Supreme Court also rejected the plea filed by Akshay Thakur challenging the decision of the President of India rejecting his mercy plea.
Court says there is the limited scope of judicial review and it finds no reason to interfere with the President's decision.
Earlier, Delhi Court had reserved the order on the plea of convicts seeking a stay on execution due to pendency of various applications in different legal forums.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana told the public prosecutor that second mercy pleas of two convicts - Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta, were not to be taken up as the first one was taken and considered on merit.
Three of the four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) had on Wednesday moved court seeking stay on their death penalty, asserting that the second mercy plea of one of them was still pending.
On March 5, a trial court had issued fresh death warrants for March 20 at 5.30 am.
The execution, specifies the Delhi Prison Rules 2018, will take place in the presence of the superintendent, deputy superintendent, medical officer in charge, resident medical officer and the district magistrate or additional district magistrate.
The families of the prisoner will not be allowed to witness the executions. All other prisoners will be kept locked till the exercise is over and the bodies removed from the prison.
(With inputs from agencies)