Never approved mercy plea, says Nirbhaya convict

New Delhi, Dec 07: Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, has asked that the mercy plea in his name be withdrawn as he never authorised it.

Vinay Sharma moved a plea before President of India seeking immediate withdrawal of his mercy petition as he claims that the mercy plea sent to the President by Union Home Ministry wasn't signed and authorised by him, reports ANI.

The Ministry for Home Affairs recommended to the President of India to reject the mercy plea of the convict in the Nirbhaya case.

Earlier, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal had also recommended rejecting the mercy petition filed by one of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya murder case.

Vinay Sharma is facing the gallows in the 2012 gangrape and murder case of a 23-year-old paramedic student, had filed a mercy petition before the president.

Nirbhaya was gang-raped on December 16, 2012. She later succumbed to her injuries. The brutality of the rape had rocked the nation leading to massive protests.

The paramedic student was raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a running bus in south Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road.

One of the accused Ram Singh had hanged himself 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 Supreme Court.

Developments in the Nirbhaya gang rape comes at a time when there is nationwide outrage over the gang-rape and murder of a 25-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad.

President Ram Nath Kovind said,'' Women safety is a serious issue. Rape convicts under POCSO Act should not have right to file mercy petition. Parliament should review mercy petitions.''

Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), Chairperson, Swati Maliwal had urged Kovind to reject the mercy petition filed by one of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya murder case.