Akshay Singh, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case, had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court earlier this week

A three-judge Supreme Court bench will hear the review plea filed by Akshay Singh, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, on December 17. Akshay, the only one of the four Nirbhaya rape-murder convicts not to have filed a review plea, moved the Supreme Court earlier this week asking the court to reconsider its 2017 judgment in which it had upheld the convictions of the four men for the 2012 rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman who came to be called Nirbhaya.

All the four men convicted in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case are on the death row. The Supreme Court, while upholding their convictions in 2017 had also upheld the death penalty that first awarded by the trial court and later confirmed by the Delhi High Court.

All the four men are currently lodged at the Tihar jail in Delhi where certain developments have sparked specualtion that the hangings of the convicts is imminent. One of these developments is Tihar jail authorities writing to the Uttar Pradesh jail administration seeking the services of two hangmen employed by the department.

(With inputs from Aneesha Mathur)