Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)
New Delhi, Mar 19: All four men convicted of the gang-rape and killing of a young Delhi woman in 2012 will be hanged to death on Friday, March 20 at 5.30 am as decided, a Delhi court said on Thursday. The Patiala House Court rejected all petitions of the convicts, Akshay Thakur (31) Pawan Gupta (25) Vinay Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh (32). The convicts had requested that their execution be stopped, claiming that they still had legal remedies left.
"No legal remedies are pending as of now. Pawan and Akshay's second mercy was also not entertained by the President of India," public prosecutor Irfan Ahmad told the court.
"My friend can move 100 applications, but these are not strictly legal remedies," he added.
Earlier, one of the convicts' wife had sought divorce claiming she did not want to live as a widow which caused much drama outside the court. She had even fainted outside the Patiala House court complex.
In another manoeuvre to delay the death sentence, three death-row convicts, represented by advocate AP Singh, had petitioned the court saying their legal remedies were pending.
The Supreme Court also dismissed a petition filed by Mukesh Singh challenging a Delhi High Court's order rejecting his claim that he was not in Delhi when the crime was committed.
The convicts played with the law long enough, where they continued to stall their execution after filing several petitions.
The accused were guilty of committing the heinous crime on December 16, 2012, where a 23-year-old woman was brutally tortured and assaulted in a moving bus. She had succumbed to the wounds a few days later.