New Delhi, January 29: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case convict Mukesh Singh, challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. Reacting to his counsel's argument that Mukesh was tortured and sexually assaulted inside the Tihar Jail premises, the top court said torture "can't be a ground" to commute the death penalty.

The bench comprising of Justices S Banumathi, AS Bopanna and Ashok Bhushan said there is no merit in the contention made by Mukesh's counsel, adding that all documents and facts were placed before the President when the mercy plea was submitted to him. The President had taken them into consideration before deciding to reject the plea, the court said. Nirbhaya Case: Convict Akshay Singh Files Curative Plea in Supreme Court Two Days Before Scheduled Hanging.

Update by ANI

The plea, a last bid by the defence counsel to commute the death penalty, was moved before the Supreme Court on Saturday. The apex court listed the matter for hearing on Tuesday, with CJI Bobde noting that "nothing can be more important than this" as the person is scheduled to be hanged on Saturday.

"You have to apply your mind at each and every step. You are playing with somebody's life(on powers conferred to the President with regard to mercy plea). I (Mukesh) was beaten mercilessly after coming to jail. He (convict Mukesh) was also sexually assaulted in Tihar Jail," the lawyer had said.\

Mukesh, along with three other co-convicts - Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta - are scheduled to be hanged at 6 am on February 1. While Mukesh has exhausted his legal remedies, Akshay's counsel moved a curative plea before the apex court today. The two other convicts are yet to file their petitions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2020 10:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).