Dec 16 gang rape convict moves SC against rejection of mercy plea

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Singh, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, approached the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind.

President Kovind had rejected Mukesh Singh’s mercy petition on January 17 within a span of just four days—in the fastest decision ever on a such a plea.

Singh relied on the guidelines laid down in the judgment by the top court in 2014 in the Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India case and assailed the manner in which the mercy plea was rejected.

Singh’s unsuccessful attempt to get a presidential pardon had necessitated a fresh death warrant and pushed the execution of the four convicts from January 22 to February 1.

Hours before Singh’s petition, a local court had disposed of a plea by the lawyer of three other death row convicts in the case seeking additional documents from the jail authorities to file the curative and mercy petition for his clients. Judge AK Jain noted that all documents have been given to the defence team and that no further directions are required in that regard.

In December 2012, five men and one juvenile had raped and brutalized a young para-medic student in a moving bus in Delhi leading to nationwide outrage. The victim later died from the injuries received. One of the accused committed suicide in Tihar jail during the trial while the juvenile accused was sent to a reform house and released three years later.

The four remaining accused, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur were convicted and sentenced to death by the trial court in 2013. The conviction and sentence were confirmed by the Delhi high court in 2014 and the Supreme Court in May 2017. Subsequently, the review petitions filed by three convicts, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma against the Supreme Court judgment were dismissed in 2018 and the review petition by Akshay Thakur was dismissed in December 2019.