Nirbhaya case: Court reserves order on plea for stay on hanging

New Delhi:A Delhi court on Monday reserved order on a fresh application seeking stay on the execution of death-row convicts in Nirbhaya rape case.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana was hearing an application filed by one of the convicts, Pawan, seeking stay on the hanging as his mercy petition is pending before the President. The order on the application will be pronounced shortly.

The fresh application was moved after the court dismissed their application seeking stay on hanging earlier on Monday.

Pawan filed the mercy petition after his curative petition was rejected by the Supreme Court in the morning on Monday.

The four convicts -- Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar -- are scheduled to be hanged at 6 a.m. on March 3.

During the course of proceedings, the court rapped the counsel representing the convicts for acting late. "One wrong move by anybody, and you know the consequences," the judge told lawyers.

Both the Tihar jail authorities and counsel for victim told the court that the application is not maintainable.

The President will seek the status report from jail authorities and they will suo moto stay the execution, Tihar told the court, adding that the jail officials are aware about filing of the mercy plea.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl, dubbed later as Nirbhaya, in the national capital in December 2012. Six persons, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused.

Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case. The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.