Nirbhaya Rape Case: Mukesh, one of the 4 convicts in the Nirbhaya Gang Rape and Murder Case, has challenged the rejection of his mercy petition on the grounds of “Non application of mind” by the Honourable President of India.
Mukesh Singh’s lawyer argued today that not all records were submitted to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, which makes his decision of rejecting the mercy plea “Arbitrary and mala fide” in Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court rejected the request of documents to be shown to the President of India wherein there are claims of proof of Mukesh getting “beaten and sexually assaulted” in prison.
Also Read: Nagpur Rape Case: 19-Year-Old Girl Raped In Unconscious State
The Supreme Court will announce its decision on the convict’s petition tomorrow.
Anjana Prakash, the Advocate, representing Mukesh argued that “You are playing with somebody’s life. You have to apply your mind”.
To which Justice Ashok Bhushan replied, “Do you mean the President has to look into every document and then decide”.
The Supreme Court of India question her by asking “How can you say that these facts were not placed before his excellency the President? How can you say that there was non-application of mind by the President”.
Anjana Prakash claimed in the court that his client, Mukesh was “repeatedly sexually abused in jail”, adding that Mukesh was kept in the solitary cell even when his mercy petition’s judgement was not given. This was against the rules and regulations of the jail.
Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta said “Sufferings in the prison can’t be a ground for mercy. Mukesh was not kept in solitary confinement. The limited period Mukesh was kept in a separate single cell can’t be equated with solitary confinement” as he represented the Police Department in the Supreme Court.
Tushar Mehta said that “Sometimes, medical health and condition of death row convicts have deteriorated so much so that they cannot be given the death penalty but in this case, the medical condition of this convict, is fine”.
All four of the convicts in the Nirbhaya Rape Case of 2012 – Pawan, Vinay, Akshay, and Mukesh – are to be hanged on Saturday at 6:00 A.M. On Monday, Chief Justice of India, S A Bobde asked the Supreme Court that Mukesh’s petition should be kept “on top priority” given the date of execution is close.
These last minute petitions by the convicts have been only regarded as their desperate attempts to postpone their fate.
Last week, the government had requested the apex court that it must change the guidelines of death row cases so the convicts cannot abuse the same law to delay their hangings. The central government, in its petition, said that the current guidelines are tilted towards the convicts allowing them to “play with the law and delay execution”.
On the 16th December 2012, a 22-year-old medical student was gang-raped on a moving bus by 6 people and was later then dropped at the road side, naked. She succumbed to her injuries later that month in a hospital in Singapore.
