Published 15:46 IST, October 31st 2019
Nirbhaya case: Delhi govt notifies convicts on 'Mercy petition' option
Reminding the convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case of their legal remedies, the Delhi government on Thursday notified to apply for mercy petition within 7 days
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Reminding the convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case of their legal remedies, the Delhi government on Thursday, issued a notice stating that the convicts had exhausted all their legal recourses, except the 'Mercy petition'. The notice stated that the convicts could apply for a 'Mercy petition' within the next seven days. The convicts can seek commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment from the President against the capital punishment awarded to them in the Nirbhaya case.
Here is the notice:
'Execution soon if no mercy petition': Tihar Jail authorities
Jail authorities have said that if the death penalty awarded is not challenged soon, the convicts could be executed, as per reports. The mercy petition being the last resort has to be filed within seven days, to avoid executions, stated jail authorities. Currently, three of the four convicts are reportedly lodged in Tihar jail while the fourth convict is in Mandoli's jail number 14. The convicts have neither sought review or challenged the death penalty issued by the trial court and upheld by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court.
Parents sought fast-track execution
Meanwhile, in February, parents of the rape victim had requested a Delhi court to fast-track the procedure to hang all four convicts. The Supreme Court on December 13 had dismissed a plea seeking directions for immediate execution of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder. It had argued, "You want us to go around Delhi and execute these people? What kind of prayer you are making?".
Nirbahaya Rape case
In one of the most horrific rape cases which shook India, the 23-year-old paramedic student was raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. The Supreme Court had in July upheld the death sentence for four men -- Mukesh (29), Pawan (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) -- convicted of the rape and murder of the young woman who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', the fearless. A fifth accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in March in 2013 and the sixth, a convicted juvenile was sentenced to three years of punishment in a reform home, and released in 2015.
Updated 16:15 IST, October 31st 2019