The Supreme Court today stayed till further orders the execution of death penalty of two of the four convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case. A bench of Justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and N V Ramana said, since the death sentence of other convicts have already been suspended by this court, the same order has to be passed in their case also.

The apex court stayed the execution of Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur who were convicted along with other two – Mukesh and Pawan Gupta whose death sentence has already been stayed. Vinay and Akshay had moved the apex court seeking a stay on their execution and reversal of the Delhi High Court verdict upholding their conviction and the punishment.

The Delhi High Court had on March 13 this year upheld their conviction and award of death penalty by terming the offence as “unparalleled in the history of criminal jurisprudence” and said that exemplary punishment was the need of the hour. It had also said if this case was not “the rarest of rare cases” then there is likely to be none”.