Nirbhaya Gang-Rape: Delhi Court Delays Hanging of Four Convicts Again

The day before, India’s Supreme Court dismissed a petition by Akshay Kumar Singh, one of the four convicts in the 2012 gang rape case of "Nirbhaya", after the accused had requested to convert his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Additional Sessions Judge at Delhi’s Patiala House Court passed on order on Friday, delaying the death penalty for four people convicted of a gang-rape.

This is the second time the court delays the execution. From the very beginning, the date of the execution was set for 22 January and was postponed later until 1 February.

The new date of the execution still remains unknown.

According to India's law, a convict can't be hanged, while legal proceedings of his accomplices pending in the court. As the court's ruling says, two of the four convicts still have the right for a mercy plea.

​​India's Minister of State for Home Affairs has called on the Supreme Court to amend the country's "convict-centric" guidelines in the law and change them for "victim-centric" sin order to return people's faith in the rule of law.

A fatal assault on Jyoti Singh, who was gang-raped by six men in a bus while returning home from a movie theatre with a male friend, took place on 16 December 2012. The victim succumbed to her injuries in a hospital shortly after the incident.

The assault galvanised the nation and led to protests demanding justice for the medical student and the safety of women across the country.