Supreme Court of India(SCI)Stays Hanging of Two Dec 16,2012 Delhi Rape Case Convicts Saturday March 15,2014

The Supreme Court of India(SCI) on Saturday March 15,2014 stayed till March 31,2014 the hanging of Mukesh and Pawan, two of the four men convicted for the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a paramedical student in a moving bus in the Capital on December 16, 2012.
"We stay the execution of the sentences of the two convicts till March 31, 2014. We direct the registry to take this matter before the chief justice for registering before an appropriate bench. We direct the court registry to furnish a copy of this order to prison authorities forthwith," the bench said.

Of the four convicted men, only Mukesh and Pawan had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court on Thursday March 13,2014 upheld the death sentence of the four men convicted by a trial court. 

The Other two convicts -Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur are yet to file any appeal. 

Confirming the death sentence, the Delhi High Court had on Thursday said the crime was "premeditated" and "callous" and one that "left an indelible scar on the social order". 


Note

On December 16, 2012, the 23-year-old student and a male friend were attacked by six men after they boarded a private bus while returning home after watching a movie.
Her friend was pushed to the back of the bus after being battered with an iron rod, which was later used to brutally violate her. 

The girl was then was gang-raped and the couple thrown off the bus.
The woman died of her injuries 13 days later. 

Four of her attackers were convicted last September after the case was fast-tracked, while a juvenile was sentenced to three years in a detention centre.

A sixth man, Ram Singh, was found dead in jail in March last year

The trial court had on September 13 last year awarded capital punishment to the four, saying they be "hanged till death" as the "beastly" and "hair-raising" manner in which the crime was committed fell in the rarest-of-the- rare category. 

Following never-before-seen protests across the country, the government had brought in stringent legislation that broadened the definition of what constituted sexual assault against women.