Delhi government on Wednesday stated that the death sentence on the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case is likely to be postponed from January 22nd. While the convicts Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta were to be hanged next Wednesday at 7 am in Tihar jail, Mukesh Singh filed a mercy petition on Tuesday. By law, even after the plea got rejected, the convict has to be given 14 days’ notice before execution. Followed by the Supreme Court rejected the curative petition filed by Mukesh, the convict lost the last chance judicial remedy available by the court of law besides the option of seeking mercy from the President.
As per the protocol, mercy plea will be sent to Delhi government and respective recommendations would be sent to the Union Ministry for Home Affairs, which in turn will form its own recommendation and forward that to the President. Ultimately, it would be President Ram Nath who makes the decision over the mercy plea. On the other hand, Nirbhaya’s mother requested President Ram Nath Kovind to summarily reject the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh.
