Dec 2012 gangrape case: SC dismisses convict’s plea challenging rejection of mercy petition
by Express Web DeskBy: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Published: February 14, 2020 2:33:04 pm
Vinay Sharma is one of the four convicts in the December 2012 gangrape case who are on a death row. (File Photo)
The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea by Vinay Sharma, one of the four convicts in the December 2012 gangrape case, challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President of India. The court also rejected Sharma’s contention that he is mentally ill and said that his medical reports suggested that he was completely stable.
The apex court said that there was no ground of judicial review of the rejection of mercy petition made out by the death row convict.
The court added that all the necessary documents, including Sharma’s medical report, was placed before the President who then “applied his mind” and rejected the mercy plea.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a Delhi court offered a counsel to Pawan Gupta, another one of the four death row convicts, saying a condemned convict is entitled to legal aid till his last breath.
The apex court on Tuesday allowed the Centre and Delhi government to seek fresh dates for the execution of the December 16, 2012 gangrape-murder case convicts from the trial court.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi also issued notice to the four convicts — Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh — on the Centre’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court verdict upholding the stay on their execution.
On February 5, the High Court gave the convicts one week’s time to exhaust their legal remedies and also rejected the government’s prayer to allow them to be executed separately.
After the SC proceeding, the parents of the victim in the case and the Delhi government Tuesday approached a Delhi court, seeking issuance of fresh death warrants against the four death-row convicts.
Tihar Jail authorities also filed a status report before the court, stating that no legal option was preferred by any of the convicts in last seven-day-period, granted by the High Court.
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