New Delhi: With just 12 hours ahead of the much-anticipate execution of the four convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, a Delhi court on Friday once again directed the Tihar Jail authorities not to execute the death warrants issued against the convicts. The execution was scheduled for Saturday at 6 am. According to recent development, the execution of the convicts have been postponed till further orders.

The recent verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana at Delhi's Patiala court. Representing convicts Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar, their counsel AP Singh has urged the court to put a stay on executions 'sine die'  as one of the convicts Vinay's mercy plea before the president was pending.

Invoking Rule 836 of the prison manual, the lawyer of the convicts told court that in a case where more than one person has been handed over the death penalty, the execution cannot take place unless all the convicts have exhausted their legal options.

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Reacting to the recent directive, an agitated mother of the victim expressed anguish and with a teared eye she said that the convict's lawyer had 'challenged' her in court. "The lawyer of the convicts, AP Singh has challenged me saying that the convicts will never be executed. I will continue my fight. The government will have to execute the convicts," she told reporters.

"These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.

She further said that because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged. The black warrants for execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.

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The 23-year-old woman was brutally gangraped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which later led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petition in July 2018.