A fresh date has been issued by Delhi's Patiala House court on February 17 (Monday) for the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. The convicts will be hanged on March 3 at 6 am.

The date of execution for the four convicts, Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Singh (31), Vinay Sharma (26), and Pawan Gupta (25) has been issued twice by the court earlier but had to be postponed to a later date after a mercy plea was filed by one accused after another. "The date has been finally issued, but I am not very happy because this is the third time that the date had to be announced due to postponements. I am hopeful that the convicts will be hanged on March 3," Nirbhaya's mother reportedly stated. The judgement might be changed yet again as one of the accused, Pawan Gupta, is yet to file a mercy plea before the president.

The 23-year-old victim, who was named Nirbhaya (fearless), was brutally raped, tortured with an iron rod, and murdered on a moving bus as she was returning home from south Delhi with a friend after watching a movie on the night of December 16, 2012.