Another convict in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, has filed a mercy petition before the President, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by another convict Mukesh Singh on Saturday against the presidential order rejecting his mercy plea.
Besides, the top court on Thursday will hear the curative petition of Akshay Thakur. A five-judge bench headed by Justice NV Ramana will take up the curative petition.
Even if his plea is rejected, he will then have the option of sending a mercy petition to President Kovind.
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The four convicts are scheduled to be hanged on February 1. However, with Akshay Singh challenging the decision in the apex court, the date is now expected to be further delayed.
In the Nirbhaya case, a 23-old-year paramedical student was brutally gang-raped in a moving bus in south Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile.
While one of the convicts committed suicide in prison and another was eventually let off on account of being a juvenile after spending three years in jail; the remaining four were sentenced to death.