One of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case, Mukesh Singh, has filed a mercy plea with the President of India, CNN News18 has reported quoting sources in Tihar jail.
The development comes hours after the Supreme Court of India (SC) had rejected curative petitions filed by Mukesh and another convict, Vinay Sharma, in the case, clearing the way for their execution.
Advocate A P Singh, who is representing the convicts in the case, had earlier said he would soon file mercy petition before the President on behalf of Vinay and Mukesh.
A five-judge bench of Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan was hearing the pleas.
"The applications for oral hearing are rejected. The applications for stay of execution of death sentence are also rejected," the bench, headed by Justice N V Ramana, said in its order.
A 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The Supreme Court had in 2017 upheld the capital punishment awarded to the four convicts by the Delhi High Court and a trial court.
On July 9, 2018, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by three of the convicts in the case, saying no grounds had been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.
On December 18 last year, the top court had dismissed the plea filed by Akshay seeking review of its 2017 judgement upholding his death penalty.
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