No backlog of mercy petition with President; end nears for Nirbhaya rapist-killers

With no mercy petitions pending with President Ramnath Kovind, the fate of Nirbhaya convicts is likely to be sealed soon.

While the convicts can move a curative petition in the Supreme Court before appealing for mercy to the President, it's rare for the top court to change their decision in such a case.

The Supreme Court on Monday reaffirmed the death sentence to the four men for the gang rape and murder of a paramedic student in 2012, which came to be known as the Nirbhaya case, rejecting the review plea filed by three of them.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee cleared all mercy petitions in his tenure. He commuted the death sentence of seven convicts in four different cases. In 30 cases, he rejected mercy petitions of 40 convicts, including 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab and parliament attack convict Afzal Guru – both were hanged.

Since assuming office last year, President Kovind has rejected one mercy plea in April this year. A total of 371 convicts were on death row by the end of 2017. The figure was 399 in 2016.