Nirbhaya Rape Case: Convict Mukesh Moves SC Seeking Judicial Review Of Rejection Of His Mercy Plea By President

Days after President Ram Nath Kovind dismissed his mercy petition, one of the death row convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case has moved Supreme Court seeking judicial review of the rejection of the mercy plea, reports The New Indian Express.

Mukesh Singh, on of the four convicts in the case, has filed the petition in the apex court after President dismissed his mercy plea on 17 January.

"A petition has been filed under Article 32 for judicial review of the manner of rejection of the mercy petition in terms of the judgement of Supreme Court in Shatrughan Chauhan case," advocate Vrinda Grover, who is representing Mukesh, was quoted in the report as saying.

A Delhi trial court had earlier issued warrant for the execution of death sentence of the four convicts on 1 February at 6 am.

Earlier, the SC had rejected the curative petition filed by Mukesh against his conviction and death sentence, following which he had moved a mercy petition.

The apex court had also rejected the curative plea of Akshay Kumar, another death row convict in the case.

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of 16-17 December 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before she was thrown out on the road. She was flown to a hospital in Singapore where she died.

All six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail. The four convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld in May 2017 by the Supreme Court, which also dismissed their review petitions.