New Delhi, January 30: Lawyer of the four convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case moved a fresh plea before Delhi's Patiala House Court, seeking a stay on the scheduled date of execution. Advocate AP Singh, in his plea before the court, said the rules bar the execution of one criminal in a case of crime till all co-convicts exhaust their legal remedies. Nirbhaya Case: Convict Mukesh Singh Was 'Sexually Assaulted' in Tihar Jail, Alleges Lawyer in SC.

AP Singh, in his plea, claimed that according to the Delhi Prison rules, none of the four convicts in the same crime can be hanged till the last convict has exhausted all his legal options including the mercy petition. If the court rules in favour of the petitioner, the hanging of convict Mukesh Singh, who has exhausted all his legal remedies, would be deferred.

Update by ANI

As per the death warrant issued earlier this month by the Patiala House Court, the convicts are scheduled to be hanged at 6 am on February 1. While Mukesh has exhausted his legal remedies, the three other convicts - Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta - are still eligible to move a final mercy petition before the President.

Akshay had on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court, seeking an urgent hearing on his curative plea. The apex court has listed the matter for hearing today. Hours later, Vinay also approached the top court with his curative petition. The matter was yet to be listed for hearing. The fourth convict, Pawan, did not file the curative plea so far.

Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi, who led a relentless struggle to seek justice for her daughter over the last seven years, said the system appears to be "favouring" the convicts. "They are filing one plea after another to delay the execution. We don't know if they would be hanged on February 1. The system is blind towards us," she had told reporters.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 30, 2020 12:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).