New Delhi, February 1: The Tihar jail authorities on Saturday approached the Delhi High Court against the trial court's order of staying the execution of the convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. The Delhi HC will hear the plea by Saturday evening. On Friday, the trial court stayed the execution of the four convicts until further notice. Nirbhaya Rape And Murder Case: Gautam Gambhir Expresses Disgust on Convicts' Hanging Delay, Says 'Hang Them Now'.

During the hearing, Convicts lawyer AP Singh cited rule 836 of prison manual which says in a case where more than one person has been rewarded death penalty, the execution cannot take place till all convicts have exhausted all legal options. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana at Delhi's Patiala court pronounced the judgment.

Four convicts in Nirbhaya Case— Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, and Vinay Kumar Sharma were earlier scheduled to be hanged on Saturday, February 1. Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind Rejected the mercy petition of Vinay. On January 31, the Supreme Court also dismissed Pawan’s petition claiming that he was a juvenile when the offence took place. Nirbhaya Rape And Murder Case: Delhi Government Rejects Mercy Plea of Convict Mukesh Singh, L-G Forwards Plea to MHA.

On January 7, the Patiala House Court issued a death warrant against four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case. However, their execution was postponed to February 1 as President rejected Mukesh’s mercy petition on January 17.

The case is related to the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student on December 16, 2012. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2020 04:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).