NEW DELHI: The four men convicted of of brutally raping and killing 23-year-old Delhi-based medical student (later named by media as Nirbhaya), have finally been awarded the death penalty.

The convicts Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh and Akshay Singh will be hanged on March 3 at 6 am. This is the third death warrant issued by the court. The two earlier ones could not be carried out as the convicts took their turns to use every legal option available to them.

Monday's death warrant was issued after the Tihar jail authorities informed the trial court that three of the four convicts have exhausted all legal options and none of them have any appeals pending in any court at the moment.

That still leaves one convict who has not filed a curative petition or mercy plea to the President. But they have also exhausted the one week allowed by the High Court to exercise all their legal option and will need to go to the top court to get an extension.

"I hope this will be the final date for hanging," said the mother of the woman, adding that she was "very happy" with the court's decision.

The woman's parents, who have been carrying out a spirited fight for justice for the past seven years , had filed an appeal in the trial court for a fresh death warrant after the week allowed by the High Court allowed the convicts to explore all legal means came to an end.

After persistent efforts by the convicts to delay the execution, the High Court had said they would get only a week to explore all "legal remedies" after which the family would be free to seek a fresh death warrant from the trial court.