The Patiala House Court today (January 7, 2020) issued a death warrant for the Nirbhaya rapists. According to the order, the rapists are to be hanged on January 22, 2019 at 7 a.m. The Court said that the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days.

According to the reply filed in response to a notice issued to them, the convicts of the 2012 Nirbhaya case have said that, “Although the Supreme Court has rejected our review petition, We 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 advocate on behalf of the convict said, “The process is going on. Due to some technical issues, the Registry has demanded the previous SLP filed in the Court. We have already taken the certificate for filing a curative petition. Since the review petition of Akshay was dismissed on the last day, we are left with the option of filing a curative petition.”

The authorities had issued a notice to the convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case on December 18, 2019 to file mercy petition within seven days.

The Patiala House court earlier, had adjourned the hearing regarding the issuance of death warrants against the convicts in the case. The Delhi High Court dismissed the claim of one of the four convicts, facing the gallows in the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case, that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in December 2012 and deprecated the conduct of his advocate for filing forged documents and not appearing in the court.

The paramedic student was raped on the intervening night ofDecember 16, 2012, inside a running bus in south Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she was airlifted from Delhi for treatment.