Nirbhaya Case: President Kovind rejects mercy plea of convict Vinay Kumar

President Ram Nath Kovind in Saturday rejected the mercy plea of Vinay Kumar, one of the four convicts facing the gallows in the 2012 gang rape and murder case.

Vinay Kumar had filed his mercy plea before the President on Wednesday asking him to listen to his side of the story ‘when nobody did’, his lawyer stated.

AP Singh, the legal representative of Vinay, had stated that the convict has said that he feels that he has died numerous times already in jail during the pendency of judicial proceedings.

Earlier, a Delhi court had postponed the execution of the four convicts untill further orders.

The court was hearing a petition put in by Vinay Sharma, who had sought that the death warrant furnished by the court on 17th January, for the second time, be stayed as a consequence of the mercy plea pending before the President.

The court had stated that the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, say that if an appeal and application is made by one convict then the execution sentence of all co-convicts will be deferred as well.

“...I am of the considered opinion that the execution warrant issued by this court vide order dated January 17 deserves to be postponed till further orders,” additional sessions judge Dharmendra Rana said.

The court also stated that as per the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, the execution sentence of all convicts of the case will be deferred pending receipt of orders from the President.

The trial court had furnished black warrants for all the convicts on 17thJanuary and ordered that they were to be executed at Tihar jail at 6 am on 1st February.

They were convicted of raping the 23-year-old woman on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi. She died of injuries a fortnight later at a Singapore hospital.

Also Read: Delhi court stays execution of Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts till further orders

Also Read: Nirbhaya death row: Convicts moves Delhi court seeking stay of execution scheduled for February 1