SC to pronounce order on Nirbhaya convict's petition against mercy plea rejection

The top court will pronounce verdict on Nirbhaya convict Vinay Kumar Sharma's mercy petition against the rejection of his mercy plea by the President. The Supreme Court had reserved the order on his mercy petition for 2 pm on Friday.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday will pronounce order on the issue of rejection of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case convict Vinay Kumar Sharma's mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind.

On Thursday, the top court had reserved the order on his mercy petition for 2 pm on Friday.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Delhi government, had said that convict Sharma was not kept in solitary confinement as it was argued by convict's lawyer AP Singh in the Supreme Court.

"He (convict Vinay Sharma) was not kept in solitary confinement, as argued by advocate AP Singh. There is a limited scope of judicial review, as the President of India had rejected the mercy petition after SC reserved order duly considering and applying his mind," Mehta had said.

"The Home Minister did not do it (dispose off the matter) immediately, as the Joint Secretary and Home Secretary discussed the matter in a detailed manner. The crime committed by the convict, Vinay Kumar Sharma, fell in the rarest of the rare category and did not fall in the category of mercy," he had added.

Lawyer, AP Singh, representing Vinay, had earlier argued that the convict was kept in illegal confinement and "illegally tortured" in Tihar Jail.

He claimed that there has been a history of physical assaults on Vinay.

The lawyer added, "Vinay should have been treated with proper medical treatment for his poor mental health. He was provided complete medical treatment for his mental illness."

The convict, through his lawyer, has requested the death penalty to be commuted to life imprisonment.

On February 1, Vinay's mercy petition was rejected by the President.

On January 31, the death sentence of four convicts Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur were stayed by a lower court till further orders.

All the four convicts are currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalising 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 Delhi. She died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.

With inputs from ANI