Nirbhaya case: Convict Pawan Gupta’s mercy petition rejected by President Kovind

President Ramnath Kovind on Wednesday rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the four Nirbhaya rape and murder convicts.

Pawan Gupta, on Monday had filed a mercy petiton before the President of India.

He was the only convict who had not availed of the remedy of mercy petition. And now his mercy petition too stands rejected.

The four convicts — Akshay Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar — were scheduled to be hanged at 6 a.m. on March 3.

On Monday, a court in Delhi had deferred the execution of the four convicts in Nirbhaya rape and murder case.

Pawan had  filed the mercy petition after his curative petition was rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday morning.

During the hearing on the application on Monday, the court was apprised that the jail authorities are aware of the convict’s mercy petition.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl, called later as Nirbhaya, in the national capital in December 2012. Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused.

Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case. The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.

By EP Web Desk

(With Inputs From IANS)