After Prez Kovind Rejects Mercy Petition, Convicts Will Now Hang On Feb 1 At 6 am, Says Delhi Court

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts, hours after the mercy petition of one of the convicts was rejected. They will be hanged on 1 February at 6 am.

The new warrant was issued hours after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy petition filed by Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts.

A mercy petition filed by Mukesh Singh - one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case - was forwarded to President Ram Nath Kovind by the Union Home Ministry late on Thursday night, hours after it was received by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The petition, which represents Mukesh Singh's last possible appeal before his execution is carried out, was filed Tuesday after the Supreme Court dismissed curative petitions - the last legal appeal - filed by him and Vinay Sharma, another convict.

"The Home Ministry has forwarded the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh to the President. The ministry has reiterated the recommendation of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for its rejection," a ministry official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta were to be hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail at 7 am on January 22, the trial court judge had declared last week, signing a death warrant seven years after a young medical student was gang-raped on a moving bus, tortured and killed.

However, on Thursday, five days before the scheduled execution, Tihar officials asked for a new date, saying the executions could not take place till after all mercy pleas were settled.

The three other convicts have yet to file their respective mercy petitions, following the rejection of which a convict is given a 14-day period of reprieve before the execution.

Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma's last legal appeal against their death sentence -- a curative petition -- was dismissed by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday

Also Read | Nirbhaya Case: SC Dismisses Curative Petitions Of Two Convicts