Mr. Gupta’s family produced a school certificate that said he was 16 in 2012 but the courts have consistently rejected the claims. Still, judges granted several delays of the execution to allow all appeals and mercy petitions to be exhausted.
In recent weeks, as it became clear the courts were losing patience, Mr. Gupta’s mother, Indira Devi, who works at the same small stand selling grapes, apples, cherries and oranges as her son had, said she had lost the strength to talk to her son anymore.
“It’s nearing the end and still no one listens to us,” she said.
On the night of the attack, Dec. 16, 2012, the physiotherapy intern and a male friend were leaving a mall in New Delhi after watching the film “Life of Pi.” A private bus, mostly empty, offered them a ride.
According to investigators, the passengers on the bus were the Singh brothers, Mr. Kumar, Mr. Gupta, Mr. Sharma and the juvenile. They had robbed at least one other person that night, the police said. When the intern and her companion boarded, the men locked the doors and savagely attacked the couple.
As the bus cruised Delhi’s streets, the men raped the woman, rammed the iron rod into her body, beat her and bit her all over. An hour or so later, they pushed the couple’s bloody, naked bodies out the door and left them for dead.
Police investigators used CCTV footage to identify the bus, which led them to all of the men within a week.
