The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a curativepetition filed by one of the four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhayagang-rape and murder case. The petition filed by Akshay Kumar Singh has beenrejected today afternoon after a five-judge bench considered behind closed doors.

In its judgment, the five-judge bench of Justices NVRamana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said that nocase was made out in the curative petition filed by Akshay.

A curative petition is usually the final judicialremedy available to a person convicted by courts of law. Akshay Kumar Singh nowhas the option of seeking mercy from the President.

Singh is one of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhayagangrape and murder case and all four convicts are on the death row to behanged on February 1 and are currently jailed at Delhi's Tihar jail.

According to the law, none of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case can be hanged until all of them have exhausted their legal remedies. This makes it unlikely that the four will be hanged on February 1, as ordered by a Delhi court earlier; the lawyer for the four convicts has already moved the court seeking a stay on the executions.