Nirbhaya convict files fresh mercy petition before President, claiming previous was incomplete

Akshay Thakur, one of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, on Saturday moved "complete" mercy petition, claiming that the petition filed by him earlier, and which was dismissed by President Ram Nath Kovind, was "incomplete".

Advocate AP Singh, the convicts' lawyer, today informed a Delhi court that the petition moved earlier did not have "complete facts".

He said that the mercy petition has reached the President's Secretariat today.

Singh had earlier this month said that the President of India had carried out a "complete miscarriage of justice" by rejecting the "incomplete mercy petition" of convict Akshay Thakur.

"Today, through media reports, I heard that the mercy petition on behalf of Akshay Thakur was rejected by President of India. In this regard, I want to clarify that on January 31, 2020, an incomplete mercy petition was filed before the President by the family of Akshay," Singh told reporters.

President Ram Nath Kovind had, on February 5, rejected the mercy petition of convict Akshay Thakur. So far, mercy petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh have also been rejected.

Meanwhile, another convict in the matter, Pawan Gupta, has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment.

This comes as a fresh death warrant has been issued for the convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh -- for their hanging at 6 am on March 3.

The case pertains to the brutal gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.