Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case: SC to hear on Tuesday petition of convict against rejection of mercy plea

A Supreme Court bench of three judges will hear on Tuesday the plea of one of the four Nirbhaya gangrape convicts, challenging the rejection of mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind.

Four convicts are scheduled to be executed on February 1 at 6 am, according to the death warrants issued by a Delhi court.

The President had rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh on January 17 and the death warrants were issued the same day.

A three-judge bench of Supreme Court will hear at 12.30 pm on Tuesday the writ petition filed by the death row convict. 

A 23-year-old psychotherapy student, dubbed by media as 'Nirbhaya', was gangraped and brutalised on a moving bus on December 16, 2012 before being dumped on the road. She was airlifted to Singapore where she died on December 29, 2012. 

Six people, including a juvenile, were arrested for the crime. The juvenile was released after serving a three-year term at a juvenile home, one convict allegedly committed suicide in jail while four others - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) - are set to be hanged on February 1.

Earlier, death warrants for all four convicts was issued by a judge on January 7, ordering their execution on January 22 at 7 am, but after Mukesh's mercy plea to the President, the execution was postponed to February 1. 

Mukesh Singh moved the Supreme Court, filed mercy plea and then again moved the High Court against the death warrant, delaying the execution.