A fresh date has been issued by Delhi's Patiala House court on March 5 (Thursday) for the execution of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. The convicts will be hanged on March 20 at 5.30 am.

The convicts have now officially exhausted all their legal remedies and Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana fixed the date after the rejection of Pawan Gupta's mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday. The date of execution had been postponed several times in the past after each of the convicts filed a separate mercy plea after the execution date was announced every single time. "Since the four convicts have exhausted all the legal remedies, I hope that they will be hanged till death on the designated date," Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi reportedly stated.

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.