SC to hear on March 23 Centre's plea seeking to execute Nirbhaya convicts separately

The Supreme Court on Thursday slated the hearing for March 23 on a petition filed by the central government seeking to separately execute the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said that it will hear the MHA's plea post-lunch on March 23.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, submitted that the convicts in the case are trying to make a mockery of the judicial system and said that they can't keep coming back to the court with one petition or another and try to get the matter delayed.

"The convicts have taken the system for a ride," Mehta said.

Justice Banumathi asked about the development in the case in the lower court, to which Mehta informed him that a new date has been issued for the execution of the four death row convicts.

The execution of the four death row convicts was once again rescheduled for 5:30 am on March 20 by a Delhi court on Thursday. This is the fourth death warrant issued in the matter.

"It is dehumanising to keep them alive in jail now, as all legal recourses have been exhausted and a fresh date has been issued for all four death convicts executions," Mehta said.

Advocate AP Singh, appearing for two of the convicts, told the apex court that convict Akshay Singh Thakur's second mercy petition is still pending before the President.

This comes after President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the case.

By now, mercy petitions of all the convicts in the case have been rejected by the President. However, a "complete" mercy petition of convict Akshay Singh Thakur was recently filed claiming that the previous one, which was turned down by the President on February 5, did not have "complete facts".

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.