Arrangements for hanging the four men convicted in the gang-rape, torture and killing of a young medical student in Delhi in 2012 began last month, as the city's Tihar jail prepared for the execution ordered by a court today for January 22 at 7 am.
"We will seek service of a hangman from Meerut. We have proper arrangements at the jail to execute all the four convicts together," a prison official said, requesting not to be named.
Special ropes for the execution have been brought from a jail in Bihar's Buxar, which also sent ropes for the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013, sources have told NDTV. A dummy execution has also been carried out to test the gallows at Tihar, Asia's largest prison.
The convicts have been kept in different cells and monitored through CCTV. Arrangements for the hanging are being made in Jail Number 3, where executions take place.
Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma were found guilty in the 2012 gang-rape, torture and killing of a young medical student in Delhi.
"This judgement will reinforce people's faith in the judiciary. My daughter will get justice," said Nirbhaya's mother, who had petitioned the court for a death warrant, saying she had waited seven years for justice.
Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed the last review petition in the case, filed by Akshay Singh. Nirbhaya's parents then asked a lower court to issue a death warrant but the judge had deferred a decision until today.
Besides the four convicts, two more were accused in the rape and murder. Ram Singh, the fifth accused, committed suicide and a juvenile was released after three years in a reform home.
The 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped and tortured with an iron rod on a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, before being dumped on a road, naked and bleeding. She died on December 29 amid street protests across the country which named her Nirbhaya or "fearless".
Free OPD Today Outside Health Ministry By Delhi Doctors On Strike: 10 Points Resident Doctors At AIIMS Delhi To Provide Elective OPDs Amid Protests Over Kolkata Horror Video: Delhi Man Dies After AC Falls On His Head From 2nd Floor "Trusted Mamata Banerjee But...": Father Of Murdered Doctor To NDTV What Murdered Doctor's Father Said About A Torn Page From Her Diary Flower Seller Forced To Buy iPhone For Son On Hunger Strike, Internet Reacts Elite Jewish High School Graduates Shun Columbia Amid Protest Turmoil Chhattisgarh Father Beats Girl, 8, To Death. She Was Fighting Sister For Toy In Lateral Entry Row, Rahul Gandhi Renews "Attack On Dalits..." Criticism Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.