Nirbahya rapists to hang on March 20

Though the four convicts Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh were to be hanged on Mar 3, the execution, once again, was deferred. So far their execution has been deferred three times.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the curative plea filed by one of the convicts Pawan.

The plea had sought the commutation of his death penalty to life imprisonment.

The Delhi government had petitioned for a fresh death warrant saying the convicts have exhausted all their legal remedies.

AP Singh, the lawyer for the convicts, argued that a fresh date of execution should not be issued today on the ground that Pawan Gupta hasn't yet decided on moving the Supreme Court challenging rejection of his mercy plea by the President.

Meanwhile, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi expressed hope that March 20 will be the final execution date of the perpetrators of her daughter.

On Dec 16, 2012, a 23-year female physiotherapy intern, dubbed as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped, assaulted and tortured at a private bus in Delhi when she was travelling with her friend by six men.

She was raped by six people including the driver of the bus.

The victim had succumbed to her injuries 13 days after the horrific crime was committed.

Of the six convicts, one of the rapists committed suicide in jail, and, another, a juvenile was released from a reform home after serving for three years.

The incident had sparked national and international outrage. Both the state and central government were brought under the scanner for not providing adequate protection to women in the national capital.