President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday rejected the mercy plea filed before him by one of the four convicts on death sentence in the Nirbhaya case – Mukesh Singh. He turned down the plea just hours after it was forwarded to him by the Union Home Ministry.
Interestingly, earlier this week, 16 organisations and more than 350 persons working for women’s rights urged the President to stop the execution saying punishment was “not a deterrent against crimes”. They said that there was “no shortcut to justice and safety” and pointed out the need to focus on long term social change. It was also the failure of authorities to ensure security to women that is required, they said.
The petition before the President was filed by Mukesh Singh on Tuesday after the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petitions filed by him and another convict Vinay Sharma. The four convicts on death row are Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh and Vinay Sharma. The four were to be hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on January 22 at 7 am. However, as the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh was pending before the President, the Delhi government had told the court that the four were not likely to be hanged before the matter is cleared by him. The Tihar officials have also asked for a new date, saying the death sentence could not be executed till all the mercy pleas were cleared. While Mukesh’s mercy plea has now been turned down, the other three convicts in the case have not yet appealed to the President with mercy petitions. A period of 14 day is given to a convict between the President’s rejection of a mercy petition and the date of the execution.
Six persons were arrested and charged with rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi in 2012, which came to be known as the Nirbhaya case. One of the accused was a minor and was tried in the juvenile justice court. Another accused – Ram Singh – had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
The Supreme Court dismissed the curative petitions of two of the four convicted in the case. This was their last possible legal appeal against the death sentence. A Delhi court had on January 7 issued the death warrant against the four death row convicts. Later, Mukesh Singh, appealed to the President against the death sentence.
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