Nirbhaya Case: President Kovind Rejects Mercy Petition Of Convict Mukesh Singh

President's decision came a day after the MHA on Thursday night sent Mukesh's mercy petition to him recommending its rejection, hours after the plea was received from Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal's office for review.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday rejected the mercy petition of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case convict Mukesh Singh, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has received the communication in this regard, sources said.

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday rejected the mercy petition of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case convict Mukesh Singh, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has received the communication in this regard, sources said. President's decision came a day after the MHA on Thursday night sent Mukesh's mercy petition to him recommending its rejection, hours after the plea was received from Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal's office for review. The MHA got the petition after the Delhi government on Thursday rejected Mukesh's mercy plea and forwarded the file to Baijal's office which also requested for the rejection of the plea. Earlier, Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in the gang-rape and murder of a paramedic student in 2012, had informed the Delhi High Court that his mercy petition is pending before the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the President of India and he should be given a minimum 14 days notice between the rejection of his mercy petition and scheduled date of execution. Watch | President rejects Nirbhaya convict Mukesh's mercy petition The Delhi High Court has refused to set aside the trial court order which issued a death warrant. The court had asked the convict's counsel to approach the trial court and apprise about the pending mercy plea. The Supreme Court had already dismissed curative petitions of the two death row convicts, including Mukesh Singh in the case. Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh had moved the curative petitions in the top court after a Delhi court issued death warrants in their names for their hanging on January 22. Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi's Tihar Jail premises. They were convicted and sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in the national capital on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012. The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, had succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment. (with inputs from agencies)