Nirbhaya convict's wife files divorce petition in Aurangabad court

Aurangabad (Bihar) [India], Mar 18 : In a yet another twist in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, the wife of Akshay Singh Thakur, a death row convict in the case, has filed a divorce petition in a family court in Aurangabad district of Bihar.

This comes as Thakur, along with three other convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- is scheduled to be hanged on March 20.

In her petition, filed through advocate Mukesh Kumar Singh, the convict's wife -- Punita Devi -- has said that she doesn't want to live the rest of her life as a widow and therefore wants a diverse.

The petition, filed on March 12, is scheduled to be heard on March 19 by the court.

The two got married on May 29, 2010 in Palom district of Jharkhand and have a 9-year-old son.

Meanwhile, several other petitions in the matter are also pending before Delhi court, Delhi High Court, Supreme Court and Election Commission of India.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

( With inputs from ANI )