Supreme Court to decide Delhi rape convict Mukesh Singh’s plea against rejection of mercy plea on Wednesday

The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved verdict on a plea of one of the four death row convicts in the Delhi gang rape case. The apex court will now decide on Wednesday Mukesh Singh’s plea challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President.

President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected the mercy petition of Singh on January 17.

Mukesh Singh and his three other accomplices, who were convicted for the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old in 2012, were sentenced to death. Earlier this month, a Delhi court ordered the four of them to be executed on February 1.

Mukesh Singh’s lawyers also complained that he had been sent to solitary confinement even before his mercy plea was rejected, which was a violation of norms and the humiliation that he was subjected to.

“Courts only sentenced me to death..was I sentenced to be sexually abused?”, said the lawyer representing Mukesh Singh. Rebecca John, who also represented Mukesh Singh, pointed to the pace at which the President rejected his mercy plea.

Tushar Mehta, the Centre’s second most-senior law officer, countered Mukesh Singh’s submissions, arguing that it was strange that questions about sanctity of life are being raised by the convict.

The mercy plea was, once filed by Mukesh Singh, processed quickly and sent with the recommendations in line with the rules. The President was not sitting in appeal over the judicial decision of courts, Mehta said.