Supreme Court reserves order on Nirbhaya convict Mukesh Singh’s petition, verdict on Wednesday

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday (January 28) reserved its order on a plea filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape case, challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. The apex court said that it will deliver the order on Wednesday (January 27).

It may be recalled that Mukesh had filed his mercy petition on January 14 and it was rejected by President Kovind on January 17.

During the hearing, Mukesh's counsel informed the court that he was sexually assaulted in Tihar Jail after his arrest and was thrashed too. "Mukesh Singh was sexually assaulted in Tihar Jail," Mukesh's counsel Anjana Prakash claimed in the SC. The petition was heard by a three-judge bench of the top court, comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna was hearing the plea.

“You have to apply your mind at each and every step. You are playing with somebody’s life (on powers conferred to the President with regard to mercy plea)”, Anjana Prakash, stated while arguing before the top court.

Earlier on Monday (January 27), Mukesh had urged the SC to hear his plea on an urgent basis. “If someone is going to be hanged, there is nothing more urgent than this. Execution case will be given priority,” the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde had said.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

The four convicts will be hanged at 6 AM on February 1. Earlier, they were to be executed at 7 AM on January 22 but the execution was delayed due to Mukesh’s mercy plea.