Multiple petitions have been filed by the four men in their attempts to stall their execution. (File)
With less than a day to the scheduled hanging of the four Nirbhaya convicts, another petition was filed today before the Supreme Court. Pawan Gupta's claim of being a minor at the time of the 2012 gang-rape and killing was dismissed by the Supreme Court for the second time in two weeks. He had asked the court to review its decision last week, even though he had been told that once rejected, an age claim cannot be contested repeatedly.
Multiple petitions have been filed by the four men in their attempts to stall their execution, set for tomorrow at 6 am. The hangman arrived yesterday at Tihal jail in Delhi, where the convicts Pawan, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh and Vinay Sharma are to be hanged together.
Apart from curative petitions before the Supreme Court, a mercy request has been filed before the President and a plea at a lower court asking for the execution to be paused.
On December 16, 2012, the young woman who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" was gang-raped by six men on a moving bus, tortured with an iron rod and thrown off the vehicle. She died on December 29.
The savage assault stunned the nation and angry protesters filled the streets in their demand for justice.
Of the six men, one was found hanging in jail. The youngest, just short of 18 when the crime was committed, was released after three years in a reform home.
Nirbhaya's parents say the four men should be hanged tomorrow instead of being allowed to exploit the law to delay the process.