Published 16:04 IST, December 7th 2019
Convict in Nirbhaya case petitions the President seeking withdrawal of mercy plea
Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case moved a plea before President seeking immediate withdrawal of his mercy petition.
Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case moved a plea before President seeking immediate withdrawal of his mercy petition as he claims that the mercy plea sent to the President by Union Home Ministry wasn't signed and authorized by him. The counsel for Sharma cited the availability of other judicial remedies such as a curative petition in the SC and the pendency of a case pertaining to whether he was a juvenile at the time of committing the crime as reasons for the mercy plea to be withdrawn. In the meantime, the President has been requested to not take any decision on the mercy petition.
The Nirbhaya case
A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16 in 2012 in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed death sentence by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017. In July 2018, the SC rejected the review pleas filed by the three convicts for a re-examination of its 2017 judgment. The Tihar jail administration had issued a notice to the convicts on October 31 this year reminding them about the mercy petition being their last option after exhausting all other legal options.
Updated 16:59 IST, December 7th 2019