All remedies exhausted, Nirbhaya rapists now approach ICJ to seek stay on their execution

Three of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape case approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, seeking a stay on the execution of their death sentence. The three convicts who approached the ICJ are Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma. The International Court of Justice, sometimes called the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. 

This comes as the four convicts in the 2012 case -- Vinay, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5:30 am on March 20. So far, President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petitions of all the convicts in the matter. However, a "complete" mercy petition of convict Akshay Singh Thakur has also been filed claiming that the previous one, which was rejected by the President, did not have "complete facts". The convicts are still employing several delay tactics - petitioning for review of the rejection of mercy amid new plea, action against former advocate for the restoration of their legal remedies.

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Nirbhaya rape and murder case

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16, 2012, in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one reportedly committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed the death penalty by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017.

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(with ANI inputs)