Delhi: The mercy petitions of all the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case have to be rejected by the President of India, and until then they cannot be hanged, argued their advocate AP Singh. The execution of the convicts, earlier scheduled for February 1, has been stayed by the Delhi court until further orders. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana at Patiala House Court passed the order based on the applications filed by the convicts seeking stay on the execution scheduled for tomorrow at 6am.

Asha Devi, Nirbhaya's mother was unable to control her tears. Drowned in disappointment, she said, "The lawyers challenged me, and the rapists got their way."

On January 17, fresh death warrants ordering their execution on February 1 was issued by a Sessions Court in Patiala House.

Also read: Nirbhaya case: Convict Akshay's petition dismissed by SC, stay on execution rejected...

The convicts sought the stay on execution claiming that they have not exhausted all the legal options. One of the convicts Vinay Sharma has already submitted his mercy plea to the President of India. Two other convicts, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta, are yet to avail the remedy of mercy pleas.

Curative petitions moved by Akshay, Mukesh and Vinay have been dismissed.

One of the four Nirbhaya case convicts, Pawan Gupta, has filed a review plea against the Supreme Court's decision dismissing his juvenility claim at the time of the gruesome rape and murder that shook the nation in 2012.

On January 20, the Supreme Court had rejected Pawan Gupta's petition of juvenility and had held that the issue has been decided based on documents and cannot be re-exercised. Yet, he filed a review plea.

The death row convicts had on Thursday moved a trial court with a plea to adjourn the February 1 execution "sine die" saying they are yet to avail their remaining legal remedies.

Of the four convicts, Mukesh Kumar Singh has exhausted all his legal remedies, including the mercy plea which was dismissed by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 17 and the appeal against the rejection was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court guidelines also stipulate that convicts cannot be hanged until 14 days after their mercy plea has been rejected by the President.