A Delhi court has admitted an appeal by the parents of a gang-rape victim seeking transfer of the case to another judge to fast-track execution of the four convicts.
The parents of Nirbhaya who was gang-raped in 2012, on Thursday approached the Patiala House Court to expedite the procedure for hanging the four rapists, as the two judges hearing the case earlier were transferred.
The appeal filed by lawyer Seema Samriddhi Kushwaha was admitted by District Judge Yashwant Singh, who has slotted the matter for hearing on November 25.
The two judges hearing the case earlier were transferred, following which the matter of the execution was adjourned, and hence justice in the case was getting delayed, the parents said.
“We knocked the doors of the court as justice in the matter is getting delayed due to the unavailability of the judge,” Kushwaha said.
She said all legal remedies of the convicts have been exhausted. “Yet the case cannot proceed due to unavailability of the judge. We have approached the court seeking its direction to the jail authorities to expedite the execution process of the rape convicts,” she added.
On October 31, the Tihar Jail administration issued a notice to the convicts stating the death penalty would be executed in seven days if they did not challenge the verdict through a mercy plea.
Under the law, the convicts can plead for mercy from the president and seek commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment. If the president allows the mercy petition, then the convicts may escape the gallows. 
In December last year, the parents of Nirbhaya approached the court to fast-track the procedure to hang all four convicts.
The 23-year-old was brutally gang-raped on December 16, 2012 inside a moving bus in South Delhi by six people. The victim, who was severely assaulted, was thrown out on the road along with her male friend. She died after a fortnight.
The sheer brutality of the gang-rape shocked the nation and led to tightening of rape laws.
Of the six convicts, one committed suicide by hanging himself in prison, while another, a juvenile, served the maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. 
The other four rapists were convicted and handed the death sentence by a trial court in 2013, which was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the high court’s verdict in 2017.