Nirbhaya case: Court reserves order over stay on execution

New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) A Delhi court on Thursday reserved till 2:30 p.m. its order on an application filed by the convicts seeking stay on their execution on the pretext of pending legal remedies on a day when a convict's wife seeking divorce fainted outside the Patiala House court complex.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana heard the arguments from both the sides and slated the pronouncement of order for the afternoon.

"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.

Advocate A.P. Singh listed the number of pending legal remedies before the court.

Irfan Ahmad retorted and said, "My friend can move 100 applications, but these are not strictly legal remedies."

Four convicts -- Vinay, Mukesh, Akshay, and Pawan -- are scheduled to be hanged on March 20 at 5:30 a.m. for brutally raping and murdering a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, later called 'Nirbhaya', on December 16, 2012.

In another manoeuvre to delay the death sentence, three death-row convicts, represented by advocate A.P. Singh, had knocked on the doors of the trial court two days back on the grounds that their legal remedies were pending.