Vinay Kumar Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, has moved to apex court challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by the President, Ram Nath Kovind.
Vinay’s mercy plea was rejected by the President on 1 February. Subsequently, on 11 February, Vinay through his counsel AP Singh approached the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of his mercy plea as well as seeking for commutation of his capital punishment to life imprisonment.
Earlier, on 31 January the Delhi’s Patiala court granted a stay on the execution of the four convicts till further orders, which was earlier scheduled on 1 February.
Ram Singh, the prime accused had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar jail, days after the trial began. On the other hand, a juvenile, who was reported to be the most brutal of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years. He was later released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over the threat to his life.
The other four convicts namely Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, and Pawan were sentenced to death in September 2013 by the trial court. While the three convicts i.e. Mukesh, Vinay, and Akshay have exhausted all their legal remedies, as well as their mercy pleas, were rejected by the President, Pawan is yet to file his curative petition and also has an option of filing a mercy plea.
Earlier the day, the honorable apex court has allowed the center’s plea to seek the trial court for a fresh execution date against the four convicts.
Referring to the alleged encounter killing of the four accused in the Hyderabad veterinarian gang rape and murder case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asserted that “people had celebrated after this and this was because people have started losing faith in the system. This reflects poorly on our system.”
“Execution of Nirbhaya case convicts is not for enjoyment, we are executing the mandate of law,” stated Mehta.
