An Indian court has set an execution date for four men convicted of the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student in the capital, Delhi.
Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were sentenced to death by a fast-track court in 2013.
Their 23-year-old victim died from her injuries 13 days after she was raped and assaulted on a moving bus.
Lawyers for the men, who are due to be hanged on 22 January, plan to launch last-ditch legal challenges.
The men cannot be executed until the Supreme Court rejects their final challenge, and the Indian president also rejects their mercy petitions. They are yet to file either.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the public prosecutor urged the court to go ahead and issue a death warrant – he argued that not filing the appeals was a delaying tactic.
