Delhi government recommends rejection of Nirbhaya case convict’s mercy plea

Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal will now send his recommendation on the mercy petition to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. A final call will be taken by the President.

Vinay Sharma, one of the four convicts, in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. File

The Delhi government has recommended the rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya case , according to a senior official of the Home Department.

The recommendation has been sent to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal. “It is the fittest case to reject the mercy petition, keeping in view the heinous and gravest crime of extreme brutality committed by the appellant,” the note sent by the government to the L-G. read

Mr. Baijal will now send his recommendation on the mercy petition to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the official said, adding that a final call will be taken by the President.

PTI adds:

Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts facing the gallows in the case, had filed a mercy petition before President Ram Nath Kovind.

Sharma is in Tihar Jail since his arrest in the case and had filed a mercy plea, according to officials. Mukesh, another convict, had refused to do so.

One of the accused Ram Singh was found hanging in the jail and another accused, a juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment in a reform facility.

The fourth death row convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (33), had not filed a review plea in the apex court.