Nirbhaya gang-rape case: Supreme Court to hear convict Vinay Sharma's plea today

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court will on Thursday (February 13, 2020) hear the plea of Vinay Sharma, a convict in 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. Sharma has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the President Ram nath Kovind's decision to reject the mercy petition.

The President had on Saturday (February 1, 2020) rejected the mercy petition filed by Sharma. This was the second mercy plea to be rejected by President Kovind in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. 

Initially, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case were to be hanged at the Tihar Jail on February 1 at 6:00 am. The Tihar Jail authorities had also brought Pawan Jallad, a third-generation hangman from Meerut to carry out the execution. 

On January 31, the jail authorities also performed a dummy execution of the four men ahead of the actual hanging. However, later in the day, a Delhi court stayed the execution of all the four Nirbhaya rape convicts until further orders.

A Delhi court had earlier issued death warrants for the four convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Kumar Sharma -- for their execution on February 1.