All the convicts were facing extremely serious charges including criminal conspiracy, sedition, attempting to wage war against the nation, and terrorist activities.

Earlier, the Indian courts had pronounced the death sentence to some women including Nalini, the convict in the Rajiv Gandhi case but such sentences were later commuted to life. 

The Apex court heard his petition at 2.30 am on Friday, three hours before the execution time and his petition was eventually rejected bringing their legal battles to an end.

President Ram Nath Kovind rejected Pawan Kumar Gupta's mercy plea through which the convicts had exhausted all the legal remedies they had in their accounts.

On Monday, the Delhi court had directed the Tihar prison authorities to execute the convicts on March 3rd, 2020 at 6 am.

The Tihar prison authorities stated that they will move to Delhi court to seek the fresh warrant as Vinay Sharma's mercy plea was rejected.

Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi stated that the lawyer of the convicts, AP Singh has challenged her saying that the convicts will never be executed.

It was the second petition moved by Akshay Singh and earlier he had approached the apex court with his curative petition to challenge the death penalty.

The Delhi court had issued a fresh death warrant against the four convicts of the Nirbhaya case and they would be hanged to death on February 1st at 6m in the Tihar prison complex.