New Delhi: The Patiala Court which heard the immediate execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on December 18 had adjourned the case till January 7, 2020. The Supreme Court dismissed the review petition of one of the convicts Akshay Kumar Singh and had given him a week’s time to file mercy petition. 

With the hearing date fast approaching, Delhi's Tihar Jail is preparing for the hanging of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. The Tihar Jail authorities have readied four new gallows frame which would allow for all four convicts to be hung together.

Nirbhaya was brutally gang raped and murdered on December 16, 2012, by five men and a juvenile in a moving bus. One of the convicts committed suicide while the juvenile was released on December 20, 2015. 

With this, Tihar Jail becomes the first prison in the country where four accused will be hung simultaneously. Till now, the central jail had only one plank for hanging.

According to the reply filed in response to a notice issued to the convicts, they (convicts) said that although the Supreme Court has rejected their review petition they are still left with the option of filing a curative petition.

A curative petition is the last legal recourse available to a convict and it is generally considered in-chamber.

The authorities had issued a notice to the convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case on December 18 to file mercy petition within seven days.