Nirbhaya gangrape-murder convict Mukesh's mercy plea reaches Ministry of Home Affairs

Ministry of Home Affairs sources on Thursday (January 16) confirmed that Union Home Ministry has received mercy petition of Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case convict Mukesh Singh from Delhi government. It is learnt that his mercy plea is currently under process and the MHA will send it to President Ram Nath Kovind with its recommendation.

In a related development, a Delhi Court on Thursday directed Tihar jail authorities to file proper report by January 17 about status of scheduled execution of four convicts of Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case. The court passed the directions after it was informed by jail authorities that they have written to Delhi government on issue of scheduled execution of the convicts on January 22 in view of pending remedies.

Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh. According to reports, Mukesh's mercy plea was first rejected by the Delhi government, which forwarded the same to the Lieutenant Governor recommending ''rejection''. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal accepted the recommendation of the Delhi Government and forwarded the file to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

This came a day after the Delhi High Court refused to stay death warrants after the state government said that it "can't hang convicts on January 22." While refusing to set aside the death warrant issued for the hanging of four Nirbhaya gangrape-murder convicts, the high court said that convict Mukesh Singh could approach the trial court, which issued the death warrant. 

The HC also said that it found nothing wrong in the death warrants issued by Delhi's Patiala House court for the hanging of four convicts. The four convicts - Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) - are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am.