[Breaking] Nirbhaya: Fresh Death Warrant issued, Four convicts to be hanged on February 1 at 6 am

A Delhi Court today issued fresh death warrant against the four convicts in Nirbhaya gang rape case.As per the warrant, the four convicts ie. Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and Vinay will be hanged on February 1 at 6 am..The fresh execution warrant was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Arora pursuant to the rejection of convict Mukesh's mercy plea by the President of India.The Delhi Prison Rules as well as several judgemnets of the Supreme mandate a buffer period of 14 days between the day of the rejection and the day of execution. .The first death warrant against the fourt convicts was issued on January 7 and the convicts were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 pm.Mukesh had filed his mercy plea earlier this week after the dismissal of his curative plea by the Supreme Court.Mukesh had thereafter moved an a application seeking to postpone the date in view of the subsequent change of events i.e. filing and rejection of his curative and the filing of his mercy plea.It was during the hearing of this application that the Tihar Jail Administration informed the Court that the President had dimissed Mukesh's mercy plea. The Jail Administration thus sought the issuance of death warrant afresh.Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed also stated that Mukesh had also been duly intimated about the rejection of his mercy plea. .On December 16, 2012, six men in Delhi had brutally gang-raped a young woman, later named ‘Nirbhaya’, in a moving bus. The victim succumbed to her injuries two weeks later at a hospital in Singapore. The six accused were apprehended by the police.Of the six accused, the main accused committed suicide in Tihar jail during the course of the trial and the juvenile accused was sentenced to three years in a remand home upon conviction. The remaining four were handed a death penalty by the Additional Sessions Judge.The four convicts had then approached the Delhi High Court in appeal. After the High Court upheld the lower court verdict, the Supreme Court too upheld the death penalty in May 2017.