Fresh death warrant for Nirbhaya rapists, to be hanged on Feb 1

A Delhi Court on Friday issued a fresh death warrant for the convicts in Nirbhaya rape case on February 1 at 6 am. The rapists were supposed to be hanged on January 22 at 7 AM but there hanging has been delayed as one of the convicts moved a mercy plea to the President. 

Earlier on Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of death row convict Mukesh Singh.

A Delhi Court had on January 7 issued death warrants against all four convicts.

After the 23-year-old psychotherapy intern, dubbed 'Nirbhaya', was brutally gang-raped and murdered in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi on December 16, 2012, the incident generated tremendous public outroar and media coverage demanding justice for the victim.

The accused in the case - Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, and a minor boy - were promptly arrested under charges of sexual assault and murder. In 2013, one of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody of possible suicide. All of the remaining accused were convicted by a fast-track trial court of rape and murder, and while the juvenile was given the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment at a reform facility, the rest were sentenced to death by hanging. Subsequently, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court upheld this judgment.

Earlier in December, a plea was filed by the victim's parents to expedite the death sentence of the four convicts.