Dec 16 gang rape convict challenges President decision

NEWDELHI: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a plea by the December 16 gang rape convict Mukesh Sharma challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The petition will be heard by a bench of justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna at 12.30pm.

The case was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde at 10.30am on Monday by Mukesh Singh’s counsel seeking urgent listing since the execution of the convicts is scheduled for February 1.

The CJI agreed, remarking that the case of a man who is scheduled to be executed will be given top priority.

He then asked the lawyer to mention the matter before the registrar for urgent listing.

President Kovind had rejected 32-year-old Mukesh Singh’s mercy petition on January 17 within a span of just four days of filing the plea.

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

In December 2012, five men and a juvenile had raped and brutalised a young para-medic student in a moving bus in Delhi leading to nationwide outrage. The victim later died from her injuries.

One of the men committed suicide in Tihar jail during the trial, while the juvenile was sent to a reform house and released three years later.