The Nirbhaya gang-rape case convicts have been informed by Tihar Jail officials that they have run out of all legal options, except one provision, to challenge their death sentence.
That provision is an option to file a mercy petition against the death sentence to the President of India.
According to NDTV, the convicts have been issued a notice by the jail superintendent on October 29. The notice stated that they have 7 days to file the mercy petition after receiving it.
It read:
It is hereby informed that in case if you have not yet filed the mercy petition and if you wish to file the mercy petition in your case against the capital sentence before the Hon’ble President of India, you can file it within seven days of the receipt of this notice through prison authorities, failing which it will be presumed that you are not willing to file mercy petition in your case and the jail administration will initiate further necessary legal proceedings as per law.
Failing to file a petition will see the responsible court issuing a death warrant against the convicts.
The six individuals were arrested on charges of gang-raping a 23-year-old paramedic student inside a moving bus on 16th December, 2012. They (six convicts) had brutally attacked the girl with an iron rod and left her to die on the streets after raping her.
After struggling for weeks, she breathed her last on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
One of the six culprits, Ram Singh, hanged himself while in prison, while another, a juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder but given a maximum sentence of three years in prison, according to the Juvenile Act.
The Supreme Court on July 9, 2018 had already dismissed the pleas of three convicts. The fourth, Akshay Kumar Singh, did not file a review plea at that point of time.
Top picks for you
