SC verdict today on Dec 16 gang rape convict plea

The Supreme
Court will pronounce, on Wednesday, its verdict in the petition filed by one of
the four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case, Mukesh,
challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind.

Another
convict Akshay Thakur (31) also filed a curative plea late Tuesday.

President
Kovind had rejected Mukesh’s mercy petition on January 17 just four days after
it was filed, the fastest decision ever on such a plea.

Senior
counsel Anjana Prakash, who represented Mukesh on Tuesday before a three-judge
bench led by Justice R Banumathi, challenged the rejection of his request for a
presidential pardon.

Mukesh and
his three other accomplices, who were convicted for the gang rape and murder of
a 23-year-old paramedic student in a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, have been
sentenced to death. Earlier this month, a Delhi court had ordered the four of
them to be executed on February 1.

Prakash told
the bench, which also comprises justices Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna, that the
government failed to place all the records of the case before the President who
could, therefore, not make an informed decision.

She told the
court that documents, including the trial court judgment, were not transmitted
to the President, who arrived at his decision without having had an opportunity
to examine relevant records.

Prakash also
highlighted the fact Mukesh was kept in solitary confinement and the President
was not informed of the same. She also cited previous judgments of the court in
Shatrughan Chauhan and Dharam Pal cases as per which solitary confinement was
one of the grounds for commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment.

One of the
arguments against the petition by Mukesh was that the President was not
exercising a judicial function and his decision cannot, therefore, be
challenged in a court of law.

Prakash,
however, responded to the same by arguing that a death row convict can
challenge the manner in which the President exercised his power to grant pardon
under Article 72 of the Constitution. She cited judgments of the Supreme Court
to that effect. “Execution of a death sentence should also be as per
constitutional principles,” Prakash told the court.

She also
claimed that Mukesh was sexually abused in jail and his brother, Ram Singh, who
was the prime accused in the case, was murdered in the jail.

The pace at
which the President rejected mercy plea was also pointed out by Mukesh’s
counsel to allege “non-application of mind” by the President.

Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government said it was ironical
that the convict would raise arguments regarding sanctity of life considering
the horrifying nature of the crime for which he has been found guilty.

Importantly,
Mehta disputed Mukesh’s claim that relevant records were not sent to the
President and also denied that Mukesh was kept in solitary confinement. He said
Mukesh might have been kept segregated in a single cell, but that did not amount
to solitary confinement.

The
execution of the four convicts, which was initially scheduled for January 22,
was pushed to February 1 after Mukesh filed his mercy petition before the
President.