(Image source from: indiatvnews.com)

The four convicts of the Nirbhaya case of gang- rape and murder in the year 2012 will be hanged on 20th of the month of March at 5:30 in the early hours of the day, as ruled by a Delhi court on Thursday.

The death warrant issued for the four convicts of the Nirbhaya case to be hanged on the 20th of March is said to be the fourth death warrant that has been issued by the Delhi court.

The issuing of the death warrant has been done after the mercy plea that has been filed by one among the four convicts Pawan Gupta was rejected by the President Ram Nath Kovind.

All the legal options for the four death row convicts for getting relieved from the death sentence had been exhausted with the rejection of the mercy plea of Pawan Gupta by the President Ram Nath Kovind.

Dharmendra Rana who is the additional Sessions Judge has fixed the new date for the execution of the hanging of the four death row convicts of the Nirbhaya case. The date has been fixed as 20th of March after it has been told by the Delhi government that all the legal remedies that can be performed by the four death row convicts to escape from being hanged has been exhausted.

The lawyer for the four death row convicts of the Nirbhaya case has also tol the court that there has been no legal impediment for the court in proceeding for fixing the date of execution.

Asha Devi who is the mother of the victim of the Nirbhaya case has expressed that she hopes this would be the final date for all the four of them to be hanged on the 20th of March and that Nirbhaya has asked to ensure that all the culprits would be punished and that such crime should never repeat, while she was dying.

The Nirbhaya case which has shook the entire nation in the year 2012 was about a gang- rape and murder of a young woman of 23 years old. The four convicts along with two others which includes a minor had gang- raped the young woman and had also tortured her with an iron rod on the night of the 16th of December in the year 2012. the victim has died on the 29th of December at a hospital in Singapore.

One of the accused who was just short of 18 when he had committed the crime was released as he was considered as a juvenile. He has been released after spending three years at a reform home and Ram Singh who was the main convict of the Nirbhaya case was found hanging in the jail.

The execution of the death warrants of the four convicts who were Mukesh Kumar Singh of 32 years old, Pawan Gupta of 25 years of age, Vinay Sharma of 26 years old and Akshay Kumar Singh of 31 years old have been deferred three times due to the delay made by the convicts in exhausting the legal remedies as all the convicts in the case are to be hanged together.

By Shrithika Kushangi