Delhi govt favours mercy plea rejection

DELHI’S DEPUTY CM SAID THE RECOMMENDATION ON THE MERCY PETITION OF 32-YEAR-OLD MUKESH SINGH WILL BE SENT TO THE HOME MINISTRY

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday recommended rejecting the mercy plea filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, and forwarded it to the LG at “lightning speed”, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said.

He said the recommendation on the mercy petition of 32-yearold Singh will now be sent to the Union home ministry. The decision comes a day after Singh filed the plea.

“We learnt that a petition has been filed and we have recommended its rejection and sent it at lightning speed to the LG. There will be no delay from our side, we can assure you that,” he said in response to a question.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday declined to entertain Singh’s plea against the death warrant issued by a trial court and gave him the liberty to challenge it in sessions court.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said there was no error in the trial court’s January 7 order i s s ui ng t he death warrant against him. The Delhi government informed the high court during the hearing that execution of the convicts will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them -- Mukesh Singh.

The four convicts -- Mukesh (32) Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.

A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.