SC Rejects Nirbhaya Case Convict Akshay Singh's Curative Petition

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, rejected the curative petition of  Nirbhaya gang rape and murder convict Akshay Singh. Of the four convicts - Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh - the SC had already rejected the curative pleas of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh on January 14. Now only Pawan Gupta is left to file his curative plea before he can file his mercy petition to the President.

Petitions of the four convicts

With only two days left for the execution of the four convicts on February 1, they are now speeding up with their legal remedies. In the last few days, petitions from the four convicts are queueing up on the doors of Delhi courts. Convict Akshay Singh filed a petition to put a hold on the execution date at the Patiala House Court which has also been rejected. While two of the convicts, Mukesh and Vinay filed their mercy plea, President Ram Nath Kovind, on January 17, rejected the plea of Mukesh while Vinay's mercy plea continues to be pending. Vinay's lawyer claimed in the petition that he "died several times in prison" during the entire judicial proceedings.

Also read: Nirbhaya’s Mother Denies Reports Of Joining The Congress Party

"I am submitting this mercy petition with the hope that your good self will listen to my story when nobody did. This is the last chance I have to tell how the terrible circumstances of that fateful day in December 2012 changed my life forever... I want to tell you all this, so that you can decide whether death is the only punishment I deserve," news agency PTI quoted Vinay Sharma as stating in the petition.

Nirbhaya's mother, Asha Devi calls these last-minute petitions "tactics to delay the execution". According to fresh death warrants, they are supposed to be hanged on February 1 at 6 a.m. However, this may be further delayed because as per Delhi Prison Rules, none of the convicts can be hanged until all convicts involved in a particular crime exhaust all of their legal remedies. However, with convicts left to file their mercy plea and one convict yet to file curative and mercy plea both, execution in two days seems unlikely.

Last week, the government sought the SC to revise terms of guidelines for capital punishment so that the convicts cannot delay execution by exploiting legal remedies.

Convict Akshay Singh filed a petition to put a hold on the execution date at the Patiala House Court which has also been rejected.

Also read: Nirbhaya’s Mother On Why She Won’t Consider Request To Pardon The Rapists

Case history

The gangrape and murder case of 23-year-old paramedic Jyoti Singh Pandey aka Nirbhaya on December 12, 2012, created ripples around the globe. It not only led to judicial changes but also promulgated dialogue around women’s safety and gender sensitization across the country. In this case, a total of six persons were convicted – Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Ram Singh and one juvenile person. Of these while Ram Singh committed suicide inside the Tihar Jail in 2013, the juvenile person walked free in 2016 after finishing three years in a correction home. The SC upheld the verdict of the death sentence for the rest of the convicts in 2018.

Picture credit- th.thgim.com