A Delhi Court on Friday issued a fresh death warrant against the convicts in Nirbhaya rape case on February 1 at 6 AM. The rapists were supposed to be hanged on January 22 at 7 AM but their hanging has been delayed as one of the convicts moved a mercy plea to the President.
Earlier on Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of death row convict Mukesh Singh.
The ministry had received the mercy petition from Delhi’s Lt Governor, Anil Baijal, for review. The final word in such a case is the President and after this the convict has no other level of petition left.
The Delhi government had earlier rejected Mukesh’s mercy plea on Thursday and had forwarded the file to the Lt Governor’s office. At the same time, a Delhi court on Thursday had directed the Tihar Jail authorities to submit a report regarding the pendency of the mercy petition of Mukesh, one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
As per law, death-row convicts get 14 days’ time to prepare for their execution. Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, on January 7 had issued a black warrant.
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Mukesh had moved the Patiala House Court, appraising the court regarding the pendency of the mercy petition before the President and seeking postponement of the execution date.
Nirbhaya was brutally gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which later led to her death at a Singapore hospital. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor who was tried in a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
The remaining four were convicted and sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld in May 2017 by the Supreme Court, which also dismissed their review petitions and curative petitions.