NEW DELHI: Tihar Jail has served a notice to the four men convicted in the Nirbhaya case to file a mercy petition before the President within a week; failing which the authorities will move for execution of the death sentence given to them.In the notice served by the superintendent, the four men — Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24), Vinay Sharma (25) and Akshay Kumar Singh (33) — were told that all their legal options to appeal against their sentence have been exhausted. Apart from the mercy petition before the President, the convicts can also move for a curative petition in Supreme Court seeking a review of their case.Director general of prisons Sandeep Goel confirmed that the notice was received by the three convicts housed in Tihar Jail and one in Mandoli Jail. Sources said if the mercy petition was not filed, the prison authorities would approach the court, which would issue a death warrant.On July 9, 2018, the apex court had dismissed the pleas of three convicts — Mukesh, Gupta and Sharma — seeking a review of its 2017 verdict, which upheld the capital punishment given to them by Delhi high court and the trial court. The fourth death row convict, Singh, had not filed a review plea in the apex court.AP Singh, the lawyer representing the four convicts, told TOI that issuing the notice was more of a political move than a note of intention. “We have been asked to appear before the court on November 19. After that we will move a curative petition in the Supreme Court to review the decision. The question of a mercy petition will only come after this,” he added.However, sources said that if a mercy plea was not moved within the period specified in the notice, the jail authorities would approach the court concerned to issue a death warrant against the convicts. This is irrespective of whether a curative appeal is filed before Supreme Court.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)