Nirbhaya Case : President Rejects Mercy Plea Of Death Row Convict Mukesh Kumar

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh Kumar, one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, reported the PTI.

The rejection happened within hours after the Ministry of Home Affairs forwarded the application to the President on Friday morning.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had rejected the curative petitions of Mukesh and Vinay Sharma, another convict in the case.

As per the SC decision in Shatrughnan Chauhan case, there should be a time gap of 14 days from date of the receipt of order of rejection of mercy plea and the date of execution.

On January 7, the trial court had issued death warrant for the execution of all four convicts on January 22. Applying the direction of SC in Shatrughnan Chauhan case, the execution of Mukesh on Janaury 22 is not legally possible. 

The President's rejection is subject to judicial review as per the SC decision in Epuru Sudhakar & Anr. v. Govt. of A.P. & Ors.

The other three convicts - Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharama - have not yet submitted mercy petitions.

Pawan and Akshay have also not yet filed curative pleas as well.

Explained - Mercy Petition, Presidential Pardon & Judicial Review