After Mukesh Singh, a convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case, Akshay Singh, another convict, also filed a curative petition challenging his death sentence.
According to the law, all the convicts are allowed to file a mercy plea each after the court issues a death warrant against them. Using the legal mandate, Akshay Singh moved the Supreme Court and challenged his execution.
A bench of SC judges is expected to review the curative petition in their chambers instead of open court. If the Supreme Court rejects Akshay Singh’s curative petition, like it did Mukesh’s, Akshay Singh has a final chance to send a mercy plea to Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India.
Besides hearing the curative petition of Akshay Singh, the SC is also going to give its verdict on a petition filed by Mukesh Singh. This petition challenges President Kovind’s rejection of his mercy plea.
These last minute petitions are claimed to be ways to postpone the death sentence execution. Initially, the Nirbhaya rape case convicts were scheduled hanged to death on the 22nd of January, but due to the mercy pleas filed by 3 of the convicts and the petition filed by Mukesh Singh, the date was shifted to the 1st of February, 2020.
Now, with this new petition filed by Akshay Singh, the date issued to hang all the convicts is expected to change once again.
Disappointed with the delay in hanging the convicts, the Government of India (GoI) filed a petition in the SC, demanding modification in the law so the convicts cannot play with law and delay their execution.
Meanwhile, Nirbhaya’s mother broke down into tears and urged the Central Government and the Supreme Court to execute the hanging as scheduled, on the 1st of February at 6:00 A.M.
Stay tuned for further updates.
