A few days after death warrants were issued against all four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, one of the convicts, Vinay Sharma, has filed a curative petition, seeking a stay in the death penalty, in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

As per the Supreme Court's verdict, Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26), and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) will be hanged at 7 am on January 22. Vinay Sharma's lawyer has reportedly stated in the petition that the court "should have considered that Vinay was only 19 years old at the time of the incident. Young age and socio-economic background should have been considered as mitigating factors." Vinay Sharma reportedly mentioned in his petition to the Supreme Court, "To eliminate systemic and political bias against the Petitioner, it is imperative that this case be reheard in open court by the senior-most judges of this Hon'ble Court without the Damocles sword of an execution warrant handing over the proceedings (sic)."

The 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. The vicious crime, that shook the nation and is still etched on people's minds, saw massive protests from across the entire country.