Supreme Court rejects mercy plea of Nirbhaya convicts

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India (SC) rejected the pleas of Nirbhaya convicts against death penalty. Earlies last week, all the four accused had been sentenced to death by a Delhi court to which two accused filed a mercy petition with the SC. Their execution is scheduled to be held on 22 January at 7am.

The five judge bench headed by Justice VN Ramana dismissed petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Kumar. Now the only option left for the accused are a mercy petition before the President of India, which they are very unlikely to get.

The Supreme Court had already confirmed death sentence for the other three accused who tried for a mercy petition. “This had to be junked by the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the gruesome act of the convicts. #NirbhayaCase #nirbhayaverdict”, tweeted Ayush Jindal.

On 16 December 2012, the victim Jyoti Singh was brutally assaulted and raped in a moving bus in Delhi. She was later thrown on to the road by the four accused. Jyoti, who succumbed numerous internal injuries passed away two weeks later. The brutal incident had sent shock waves across the world. International community came together demanding justice for Jyothi who is also called as ‘Nirbhaya’, the fearless. Jyoti’s parents had said that they are happy with the verdict given to the accused.

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