New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked counsel of Nirbhaya case convict Mukesh Singh (32) to approach its Registry for urgent listing of his plea against rejection of the mercy petition by the President on January 17, the last constitutional recourse that death row convict can take. The hearing will be held on Tuesday.
Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde said: "If somebody is going to be executed, then nothing can be more urgent than this and it should be the top priority."
The Bench comprising Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai and Surya Kant asked Mukesh's lawyer Vrinda Grover seeking commutation of his death sentence into life imprisonment to immediately approach the court registry since the hanging is slated in just five days on February 1.
On January 15, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice NV Ramana had dismissed the curative petitions of Mukesh and co-convict Vijay Kumar Sharma. Four convicts are to be hanged on February 1 at dawn.
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The hanging may be further delayed in case curative petitions are filed in SC by lawyer AP Singh on behalf of Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) as recorded by him in the trial court on January 23. His petitions have, however, not yet come, the registry sources said.
A 23-year-old paramedical student, Nirbhaya, was brutally gang-raped by six men (including a juvenile) in a moving bus in Delhi on a chilly night on Dec 16, 2012, and was later given the name ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless).
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