MHA to send mercy plea of Nirbhaya gang rape convict to President

The Ministry of Home Affairs received the mercy plea of a convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case and sent it to President Ram Nath Kovind for the final decision. On the other hand, the Delhi government 'strongly recommended' to the Centre to reject the mercy petition of the convicts as gang-rape is the most heinous crime of extreme brutality committed by the appellant.

New Delhi: It was only two days after the Delhi government 'strongly recommended' to the Centre to reject the mercy petition of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday received the mercy plea of a convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case.

In its response, the Union Home Ministry said that the file which was sent by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal will be examined and then will be forwarded to President Ram Nath Kovind for the final decision.

The mercy petition was presented before President Ram Nath Kovind in November by one of the six convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Sharma.

In this regard, the Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain mentioned that this is the most heinous crime of extreme brutality committed by the appellant. Hence, the mercy petition should be rejected.

However, the file was again sent to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal who forwarded it to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which will now be sent to President Ram Nath Kovind.

Vinay Sharma who had filed a mercy petition is lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail along with two other convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was brutally tortured and gang-raped by a gang of six onboard in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, in Delhi.

The gangrape incident had caused wide public outrage across the country.