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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed a petition by 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder convict Mukesh Kumar Singh, who had challenged the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind. Stating that there is no ground to challenge the dismissal, a three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said all aspects raised by the convict had been considered by the trial court, High Court the apex court and were placed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before President Kovind.
The four — Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) — are scheduled to be hanged on February 1.
Countering Mukesh’s allegation of “non-application of mind” by the President, the court said expeditious disposal of mercy plea doesn’t mean non-application.
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Mukesh’s counsel had also alleged that he was sexually abused and tortured in the prison and that not all facts were not placed before the President. The lawyers also said he was sent to solitary confinement even before his mercy plea was rejected, which was a violation of norms. Rejecting the charge, the court said the alleged torture cannot be the ground for mercy plea and that all documents were placed before the President.
In another development, a convict Akshay Kumar approached the Supreme Court today with a curative petition. So far, the curative petitions filed by two convicts — Vinay and Mukesh — in the case have already been dismissed by the apex court.
The case dates back to December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old woman was gangraped and assaulted inside a moving bus in South Delhi by six persons, before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, at a hospital in Singapore.
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