NEW DELHI, March 2 - A Delhi court on Monday deferred till further order the hanging of four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case pending disposal of a convict�s mercy plea.
All the convicts in the case were to be hanged together on Tuesday at 6 am.
The execution of their death warrants has now been deferred thrice due to delays in exhausting legal remedies.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the death sentence cannot be executed pending disposal of mercy petition of convict Pawan Gupta.
�Despite stiff resistance from the victim�s side, I am of the opinion that any condemned convict must not meet his Creator with a grievance in his bosom that the courts of the country have not acted fairly in granting him an opportunity to exhaust his legal remedies,� the judge said.
�As a cumulative effect of the discussion, I am of the opinion that the death sentence cannot be executed pending the disposal of the mercy petition of the convict. It is hereby directed that the execution of death warrants against all the convicts, scheduled for March 3 at 6 AM, is deferred till further orders,� the judge added.
The court passed the order on Pawan�s plea seeking to stay the execution as he has filed a mercy petition before the President on Monday.
While it was reserving the order on Pawan�s fresh plea to stay the death warrant for Tuesday morning, the court rapped the convict�s lawyer for acting so late in filing the curative and mercy pleas.
Pawan�s curative plea was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier in the day. � PTI
