President Ram Nath Kovind today rejected the mercy plea of Nirbhaya
case convict, Mukesh Singh, hours after the Union home ministry
forwarded it to the President with the recommendation to turn down the
petition.
The President’s decision exhausts all the possibilities of Mukesh Singh escaping the gallows.
Later, the ministry wrote to the Delhi government, conveying that the
President in exercise of the powers under Article 72 of the
Constitution has rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh Singh, who is now
lodged in a special cell in the national capital’s Tihar
jail.
Under Article 72, the President can grant a pardon or reduce the
sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital
punishment.
A Delhi court had yesterday made it clear that the scheduled
execution of the the convicts – Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh
and Pawan Gupta – could not be carried out January 22, 2020.
Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora had said there were 5
days left for the date fixed earlier and even if the mercy plea is
rejected by the President, the jail manual mandates 14 days’ time to be
given to a condemned prisoner before the hanging.
Therefore, a new date may be sought.
He had directed the Tihar jail authorities to file a report about the status of the scheduled execution of the convicts.
Besides Mukesh Singh, the 3 other convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape
case are also lodged in special cells in the jail and are under watch.
The Delhi government had earlier rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh
Singh. The mercy plea was then sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs the
office of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who accepted the
recommendation of the city government.
All the 4 convicts were to be hanged at 7 am on January 22.
Source: indialegallive.com, Staff, January 16, 2020
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