Nirbhaya Case: Mercy Petition Filed, Convicts Won't Be Hanged On Jan 22

Nirbhaya Rape Case convicts won't be hanged on January 22 as they have now filed a mercy plea, Press Trust of India reported. The Delhi government told the High Court that under the prison rules, they have to wait for the convict's mercy plea to be decided for executing a death warrant. Even if the mercy plea is rejected, a convict has to be given a notice 14 days prior to the execution, NDTV reported.

Nirbhaya gangrape and murder: Delhi government says execution will not happen on January 22 as mercy plea has been filed

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 15, 2020

Key Takeaways:

• Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma were found guilty of gang-rape, torture and killing of a young paramedic student in Delhi.
• Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh had filed a curative petition which was rejected by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
• A mercy plea has now been filed, because of which, the convicts will not be hanged on January 22 as decided previously. 
• The Delhi High court has now said that there is no error in trial court's order issuing death warrant against convict Mukesh in Nirbhaya case.
• Mercy Petition is the last legal recourse available with the convicts before they are hanged.

Delhi HC says there is no error in trial court's order issuing death warrant against convict Mukesh in Nirbhaya case

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 15, 2020

Rahul Mehra, standing counsel for Delhi Police, said that the execution cannot take place on January 22 since Mukesh has filed a mercy plea. In his statement, he added that the pattern followed by the convicts to file their mercy pleas separately is a strategy to frustrate the process of law

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Jyoti Singh, the 23 year old paramedic student was given the name “Nirbhaya (fearless)”. After her death, 11 days after the brutal assault, her parents started a campaign to get her justice. Asha Devi and Badrinath, organized Nirbhaya Chetna Diwas every year in their unfailing demand for justice for their daughter. The Delhi court issued a death warrant against the four convicts on January 7.

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"The right to seek mercy from the President is the Constitutional Right of a death row convict under Art 72 of Constitution," Senior Advocate Rebecca M John, appearing for Mukesh (one of the convicts) said. "As per the judgement of SC, 14 days are granted even after the rejection of mercy plea to exercise post mercy legal remedy. Let the 14 days period be calculated post the disposal of the mercy plea by the president," she added.

"The right to seek mercy from the President is the Constitutional Right of a death row convict under Art 72 of Constitution," Rebecca M John, Senior Advocate

Rahul Mehra, standing counsel for Delhi Police, said that the execution can not take place on January 22 since Mukesh has filed a mercy plea. It can only take place after the mercy plea is rejected, that too 14 days after the rejection. In his statement, he added that the pattern followed by the convicts to file their mercy pleas separately is a strategy to frustrate the process of law. Justice Manmohan, one of the judges on the bench said that the present plea looked like a way to prolong the matter.

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