President rejects Nirbhaya convicts' mercy plea, lawyer claims 'miscarriage of justice'

The lawyer of Nirbhaya case convicts, AP Singh, on Thursday called out the President of India and said that he has carried out a "complete miscarriage of justice". This comes after the President rejected an incomplete mercy petition of one of the rape and murder convict Akshay Kumar. AP Singh further said that he will file another petition on Friday. 

The mercy petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh have already been rejected by the President so far. Apart from this, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Central government's appeal against Delhi High Court order on Friday. This was an appeal made by the Centre to execute the four convicts in the case separately. 

AP Singh on President's decision

While speaking about the President, AP Singh said, “Today, through media reports, I heard that the mercy petition on behalf of Akshay Kumar was rejected by President of India. In this regard, I want to clarify that on January 31, 2020, an incomplete mercy petition was filed before the President by the family member of Akshay. I respect the President very much and he is a Constitutional body. But this is a complete miscarriage of justice by President of India. I will file a complete mercy petition tomorrow.” 

Read: 'We believe in Constitution of India', says Lawyer AP Singh defending Nirbhaya's convicts

"I had handed over the mercy petition to the family member of Akshay Kumar, to file complete documents as per the guidelines of the President. Due to a misunderstanding and being an illiterate person, they (family of Akshay) filed an incomplete mercy petition before President of India on behalf of Akshay, on January 31, 2020," he added. Singh also said that the Delhi High Court, Solicitor General and Delhi's counsel had agreed that an incomplete mercy petition was pending before the President. 

Read: Nirbhaya case: Convict's lawyer AP Singh talks about Pawan Kumar's plea

AP Singh stated that it is a very important point to file a complete mercy petition in the matter. "On Feb 1, I had moved an application before the President's secretariat central registry centre in New Delhi, with the ingredients that the petition filed on behalf of Akshay Kumar was incomplete, without affidavit, signature of Akshay, attestation satisfied by the jail, character, economic situation, condition, criminal record of the convict," he said.  

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"I also request the President of India not to take any action on the mercy petition filed on January 31, 2020, and also record that take this application on record for kind perusal of the matter," Singh further said. 

(With ANI Inputs)

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