New Delhi, January 29: The Supreme Court will pronounce its order on the plea filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case, against the rejection of his mercy petition by the President today, on Wednesday. The three-judge bench of Justice R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna had reserved its verdict on the plea challenging the President's decision and had said that it would pronounce its verdict on Wednesday. Nirbhaya Case: Convict Mukesh Singh Moves Supreme Court Challenging Rejection of Mercy Plea, Wants Feb 1 Death Warrant Quashed.
Earlier, Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case convict Mukesh Singh's lawyer had alleged in the Supreme Court that he was sexually assaulted during his stay in the Tihar Jail. The accusation was leveled by advocate Anjana Prakash, during the hearing over the rejection of Mukesh's mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. Death Row Convict Vinay Sharma Wants to Attach His Personal Diary With Mercy Petition.
Read the ANI Tweet Below
2012 Delhi gang-rape case: Supreme Court will pronounce today the order on the plea by one of the convicts, Mukesh, against the rejection of his mercy petition by the President. pic.twitter.com/MbzHIGYJhZ
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2020
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Bobde had granted an urgent hearing to the plea challenging the President's decision, saying that it involves the life and death of a person. "Nothing can be more urgent than this. The person is scheduled to be hanged," the CJI had said on Monday. The Supreme Court Registry subsequently fixed the hearing in the matter for Monday.
Mukesh, along with the three other co-convicts - Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma - is scheduled to be hanged at 6 am on February 1. His mercy plea was rejected by the President on January 17 -- within four days after Mukesh had sent the petition to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The convict's counsel has alleged, citing the Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India, that President Kovind did not follow the due procedure while considering the mercy petition.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2020 08:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).