Nirbhaya Convict's Mercy Plea Reaches Rashtrapati Bhavan As Execution Date Nears

The mercy plea of Mukesh Singh, one of the four death row convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, has reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Union Home ministry has recommended to President of India to reject mercy petition filed by Singh. The final status of the mercy plea would be known later in the day. The development comes a day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal rejected the mercy plea and sent his recommendations to the Union Home ministry. Earlier, the Delhi government had also dismissed Singh’s mercy plea. Meanwhile, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi has reacted bitterly over the politics in the case. “Till now, I never talked about politics, but now I want to say that those people who held protests on streets in 2012, today the same people are only playing with my daughter's death for political gains,” Devi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

While the process of the mercy plea is moving at a swift pace, the rapists’ execution on January 22 is likely to be delayed. On Thursday, Tihar Jail authorities asked the Delhi government to postpone the hanging of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case, and sought a fresh date for the purpose, according to reports.

Earlier, a Delhi court on Thursday commented that it seemed impossible to execute the death warrant on January 22 in view of the pending mercy plea. It directed Tihar jail authorities to file a proper report by Friday about the status of scheduled execution of convicts. Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora passed the directions on Thursday after the jail authorities said they have written to the Delhi government on the issue in view of pending remedies. A convict has to be given at least 14 days' notice before his execution after all his legal remedies are exhausted.

Meanwhile, all the four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were shifted on Thursday to Tihar prison complex's jail number three where their hanging is set to take place, a jail official said. The four death row convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Mukesh Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta -- were scheduled to be hanged on January 22. However, the Delhi government told the High Court on Wednesday their execution has to be postponed in view of the pendency of a mercy petition by one of them.

"We have shifted all the four convicts to jail number three of Tihar, where the execution is set to take place," a senior jail official said. Till now, Vinay Sharma was lodged in jail number four, while Akshay, Mukesh and Pawan were lodged in jail number two of Tihar.