Ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing on the curative petitions filed by two death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case, Asha Devi, mother of the victim, expressed hope that the court will reject the pleas of the two rapists.
A five-judge bench of Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the curative pleas filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh.
"They (convicts) have filed a petition (curative plea) before the Supreme Court just to stall the process. I am very hopeful that their petition will be rejected today. They will be hanged on January 22 and 'Nirbhaya' will get justice," Asha Devi told on Tuesday.
Vinay and Mukesh had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued a death warrant in their name and announced January 22 as the date of their execution.
Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi's Tihar Jail premises.
They were convicted and sentenced to death for brutally raping a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.
The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.
A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.
If it is rejected, they are legally bound to move a mercy petition. It is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.
( With inputs from ANI )