SC dismisses Nirbhaya convict's plea challenging rejection of mercy petition

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the petition filed by Akshay Singh Thakur, one of the death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, challenging the rejection of mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi and also comprising Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Ashok Bhushan said that the torture of convict in prison cannot be ground for review of a decision by the President.

"When we consider the grounds raised by the petitioner, we do not find any ground that there was non-application of mind by the President of India," the court observed.

Justice Bhushan, during the hearing, said that the scope of judicial review is very limited since the decision of the President is being challenged. "On what ground you are challenging the decision," the court asked advocate AP Singh, who was appearing for the convict.

When Singh claimed that the mercy petition was rejected due to media pressure, the apex court said, "Your mercy plea was rejected by the highest constitutional authority. You cannot say that the President was influenced by the media report. Mercy petition is decided by the President of India at the constitutional post."

"It is a matter of human rights," said Singh, to which Justice Bhushan responded by saying "every time you say human rights, you are arguing about a person who has been convicted and sentenced to death."

Singh said that several cases were investigated by CBI but this case was not sent to the probe agency and asked why there was not a men's commission in the country.

"There are women commissions, women helpline numbers but why is there no men's commission? If a men's commission was working then we would get justice. If there is a women helpline, why not for men?" he added.

Thakur had earlier filed a "second mercy petition" claiming that the first one, which was rejected by the President on February 5, did not have "complete facts" of the matter. The mercy petitions of all the death row convicts in the case have been rejected.

Earlier, the apex court had rejected a plea filed by Mukesh Singh, another convict in the case, challenging a Delhi High Court's order rejecting his claim that he was not in the national capital when the crime was committed.

This comes as the four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5.30 am on March 20 after a Delhi court refused to stay the execution.

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 the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.