By Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS): Instead of reaching the Supreme Court on Monday, three of the four Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts have filed their replies to the Delhi government and the Tihar Jail administration to the notice served on them by Tihar Jail.

Ajay Prakash Singh, senior Supreme Court lawyer representing Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh -- lodged in Tihar jail -- and Pawan Kumar Gupta lodged in Mandoli jail, confirmed the development.

IANS has access to the 'receipt' given to convicts by the Delhi government and the jail administration on filing of replies as well as the copy of the notice sent to them on October 28, saying they had seven days to file mercy petition.

The move comes as a well-thought-out strategy as the convicts have refused to file a mercy petition before the President.

After that the convicts met their lawyer in Tihar Jail on Friday and decided to move the Supreme Court instead of filing mercy petition. It was also decided that a review petition will be filed on behalf of Akshay Singh and a curative petition on behalf of Vinay Kumar Sharma and Pawan Kumar Gupta.

"Law is equal for everyone. Knowing that there will be a long holiday, the notice sent by the Tihar Jail administration and the Delhi government on October 28 is a 'joke'," said Ajay Prakash Singh, representing Akshay Kumar Singh and Vinay Kumar Sharma in the SC.