Nirbhaya case: Death row convict files fresh plea in Supreme Court

In a last ditch effort to escape the gallows, Mukesh, one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case, has filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court, CNN News18 has reported.

The move comes a day after a Delhi court issued fresh death warrants for the four convicts and ordered the hanging for March 20 at 05:30 am.

As per the TV news channel, in his plea, Mukesh has asked all proceedings against him since 2019 to be quashed.  He has alleged that his previous lawyer connived with the authorities so as to "compel Mukesh to file his curative petition and mercy plea".

On March 4, President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected the mercy plea of Pawan Gupta, the fourth death row convict in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case. The mercy pleas of the remaining three had been rejected earlier.

As of March 5, the four convicts – Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh – had exhausted all legal remedies, and hence there was no legal impediment for the trial court in proceeding to fix the date of execution.

This is a developing story. More details awaited.