Nirbhaya convict approaches SC challenging rejection of mercy petition

One of the death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Akshay Singh Thakur, on Thursday moved to the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of mercy petition by the President of India.

New Delhi [India], Mar 19 : One of the death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Akshay Singh Thakur, on Thursday moved to the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of mercy petition by the President of India.

Thakur had earlier filed a "second mercy petition" before the President claiming that the first one, which was rejected on February 5, did not have complete facts of the matter.

During a hearing in a Delhi court earlier today, the public prosecutor had informed that President Ram Nath Kovind had not entertained the mercy petition filed by the convicts.

On February 1, Thakur had filed a mercy petition before the President of India.

So far, the mercy petitions of all the death row convicts in the case have been rejected.

This comes as the four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5.30 am on March 20.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing 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 the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

( With inputs from ANI )