INDIA's top court has temporarily stayed the hanging of two of the four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi.

The Supreme Court's order came in response to a petition filed by an attorney for the two men, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta, after their appeal against the death sentence to Delhi's high court was rejected last week.

The petition said their defence had been completely ignored by the high court judges.

The court scheduled a hearing in the case for March 31.