The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a plea filed by four men convicted in the December 16, 2012 gangrape case, ANI reported. Akshay, Vinay Sharma, Pawan and Mukesh had moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's death sentence.

The convicts' hearing in the Supreme Court began on April 4, almost two years after a stay order was issued against their execution. Two of the convicts had sought a change in their defence counsel as they alleged that the lawyers had spoken against them to the media. They requested Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Deepak Misra to intervene in their favour.

A trial court had ordered death sentences for the convicts in September 2013, which was upheld by the Delhi High Court six months later. However, the Supreme Court issued a stay order on the sentence after the convicts appealed against it.

Six individuals, including a juvenile, had gangraped a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012. The victim, whom they had brutally abused, had succumbed to her injuries on December 29 the same year at a hospital in Singapore. The minor accused was released in December last year after serving three years in a detention home for juveniles, while one convict died in prison.

The incident had triggered country-wide protests and demands to ensure better safety for women in India. The outrage had forced the government to introduce new laws on rape.