The Supreme Court has rejected a plea filed by the Nirbhaya rape case convict Mukesh Singh. Mukesh had argued that lower courts had incorrectly dismissed his claim of not being in the national capital at the time of the crime.

A Delhi court on Thursday, 19 March, reserved till 2:30 pm its order on an application filed by the convicts seeking a 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.

Nirbhaya mother Asha Devi expresses anguish over delay in convicts' execution
Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi during an interaction with the press.Source: Twitter/@ANI

Death sentence gets more delayed

"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 maneuver 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.