A Delhi court yesterday put a stay on the hanging of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape-murder case over a mercy petition filed by one of the convicts. The Tis Hazari court judge said on Thursday, "I am not reviewing my order to pass a death warrant. There will be a stay on the execution of the death warrant since a mercy plea is there. Jail authorities just have to give me this report saying we will not hang them on January 22."

The Delhi government had on Wednesday said the four convicts cannot be hanged on January 22 as there is a mercy petition filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts.

The four convicts -- Mukesh (32) Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) - were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their

death warrants on January 7. Lawyer Seema Kushwaha, appearing for Nirbhaya’s parents argued that the mercy petition is not pending before the President of India. “It has only been filed. We don’t know if it has been sent to the President yet,” she said and added that the hanging cannot be stayed over this petition.